The Assam government-initiated agriculture project at Gorukhuti, the site of a bloody eviction drive in which two people were killed over two years ago, has not yielded the desired results with several Gir cows brought from Gujarat dying due to illness, Agriculture Minister Atul Bora said on Thursday.

Addressing a press conference here, Bora said the government has taken help from the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) in its effort to make the Gorukhuti Multipurpose Agriculture Project in Darrang district a success.

“Around 40 of the Gir cows that we brought have died due to illness. These include calves and adult cows. After treatment and bringing experts, other cows have recovered,” he said.

Though Bora did not specify the type of disease the cows were suffering from, he said the Gir cows probably could not adjust to the climate of Assam.

“We have not gotten the expected results from the Gorukhuti project. We have spoken to NDDB and they are guiding us,” he added.

In March this year, Bora informed the Assam Assembly that 300 Gir cows brought from Gujarat through the NDDB were declared “inferior quality” by doctors and all of them were returned without costing anything to the exchequer.

A total of 299 Gir cows, brought in three phases, were still at Gorukhuti, he had said.

Around 1,200-1,400 houses, mostly belonging to Bengali-speaking Muslims, were razed to the ground on September 20 and 23 of 2021 in Dhalpur I, II and III villages, leaving over 7,000 people homeless. Village markets, mosques, burial grounds, madrassas and maktubs were also bulldozed.

The eviction drive, which had passed off peacefully on the first day but conducted amid stiff resistance by the local people on the second day, also left two dead in police firing on September 23, including a 12-year-old boy who had gotten his first identity proof, an Aadhaar card, just before he was shot dead.