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Army’s military farms to be shut, flag ceremony for closure at Delhi Cantt
The military farms supplied more than 21 crore litres of milk to the army, accounting for 14% of the total requirement. The army bought the rest of its requirements locally.
The Indian Army’s Military farms will be disbanded on Wednesday, leading to the shutting down of 39 such farms across the country, officials familiar with the developments said
The flag ceremony for the closure will be held at Military Farms Records at Delhi Cantonment, the officials said.
Raised in 1889, the defence ministry ordered the closure of the military farms in August 2017 to cut costs and better utilise thousands of acres of defence land. The 39 military farms are spread over more than 20,000 acres of prime defence land across the country in cities such as Ambala, Kolkata, Srinagar, Agra, Pathankot, Lucknow, Meerut, Allahabad and Guwahati.
The closure of the farms will lead to giving away more than 25,000 heads of cattle to the Indian Council of Agricultural Research and different state governments for rearing, as previously reported by HT.
The military farms supplied more than 21 crore litres of milk to the army, accounting for 14% of the total requirement. The army bought the rest of its requirements locally. The cattle stock includes thousands of high-yielding Frieswal cows, a cross between Dutch Holstein Friesian and Indian Sahiwal breeds.
In a report submitted in 2016, a defence ministry committee panel recommended that military workforce could be trimmed in several non-combat areas including military farms. The 11-member panel, headed by Lieutenant General DB Shekatkar (retd), was tasked with mapping out a strategy to sharpen India’s combat edge and suggest measures to initiate targeted reductions in personnel.
The military farms account for a total work force of 2,000 civilians who work in the defence ministry and 14 combatants.
