After media reports that Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and his son Sukhbir Badal had received 13 animals gifted by Pakistan on a day when Sarabjit Singh was cremated, the Punjab Government on Saturday clarified that the process of importing cattle from Pakistan commenced about six months back. A payment of over Rs16 lakh was made for the cattle.
A spokesperson of the Punjab Government said that Parkash Singh Badal made the payment from his personal account towards the price of the cattle, the import licence fee and custom duty after following the prescribed procedure under the provisions of foreign trade.
Clearing the air over the issue, the spokesperson said the import was in pursuance of the Government of India’s initiative to boost Indo-Pak trade through Integrated Check Post (ICP) at Attari-Wagha Border. Badals in their personal capacities initially applied for a licence to import 12 and eight cattle respectively from Pakistan for breeding purposes, the spokesperson claimed.
This was done for upgradation of indigenous breed at their own farms at village Badal to the Director of Foreign Trade, the GoI on October 31, 2012 and deposited the requisite fee of Rs2,700 for this purpose.
The import licences were granted. Subsequently, the Ministry of Agriculture accorded necessary permissions to import cattle through Attari-Wagah border after a long drawn procedure spanning over seven months.
Badal remitted $24,522 (Rs13,48,750) from his personal account vide cheque drawn on State Bank of India, IBD, Semi Branch, Sector 17-B, Chandigarh on April 23, 2013 in the favour of Secretary, livestock and Dairy Development, Government of Punjab, Pakistan towards the actual price of the cattle.
The cattle imported from Pakistan included three Sahiwal cows, one Sahiwal bull, three Nili Ravi Buffaloes, one Nili ravi bull, three Sheep (Balthi breed) and one Ram (Balthi breed) as these were only available in Pakistan as indigenous breeds. These cattle were received by the Quarantine Officer from GoI and have been transferred to Kapashera Centre, New Delhi, where these will be kept for one month for quarantine.
The spokesperson further pointed out that Pakistan's Punjab Government had announced to give a Nilli Ravi buffalo as a reciprocating gesture to Indian Punjab during Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal's official visit to Pakistan Punjab in September last.
On Saturday, Sukhbir said this Nilli Ravi Buffalo which has crossed over Wagha along with other 12 cattle on Friday will be given to the State-run Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Sciences University, ludhiana (GADVASU) for the promotion of indigenous breeds of high yielding cattle. The Deputy Chief Minister had gifted a tractor to Pakistan Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif during his visit to Pakistan.
The spokesperson said apart from the cost of animals which the Chief Minister paid, he also paid an amount of Rs 3, 20,532 towards the payment as custom clearance duty for importing these 13 cattle thereby personally incurring a lump-sum expenditure of Rs 16,71,982 on this count.
The spokesperson further said that the entire procedure for importing cattle from Pakistan almost took eight months and it is now just a matter of coincidence that these cattle landed at Wagah on the fateful day when the cremation of Sarabjit took place.