The Livestock and Dairy Development Department Punjab (LDDDP) may get a sum of Rs 1.5 billion for its Annual Development Programme (ADP) in the budget for the year 2011-12 to work on different interventions for enhancing milk and meat production in the province.
Highly placed sources in the department told Business Recorder here on Saturday that the department had proposed an ADP of Rs 3 billion to carry out new and old projects aimed at developing and strengthening of the livestock sector and making its role effective in poverty alleviation from the rural areas.
Sources said that last year ADP originally was of Rs 2 billion, however, the department only got a sum of Rs 1 billion due to diversion of funds by the provincial government towards rescue and relief work in flood-hit areas. The department plans to continue working on nine ongoing schemes and initiate working on nine new schemes in the coming financial year, the sources added.
Besides this, the provincial government is also expected to make a block allocation of Rs 1 billion under a new head "new initiatives for fast moving scheme". While two new arms of the LDDP, Pakistan Agriculture and Meat Marketing Company (PAMCO) and Punjab Livestock and Dairy Development Board (PLLDB) is also expected to be given Rs 250 million each in the coming year to work on new initiatives. They might get this amount from this block allocation or separately, the sources concluded.