IN HUGE DEMAND
Semen smuggling Not a cock-and-bull story

Sukhbir Siwach TNN

Chandigarh: They cost more than a Nano car,weigh around 450kg and can give up to 30 litres of milk daily,almost double that of an ordinary buffalo.Murrah buffaloes are Haryanas pride and the bulls are so prized that their semen is now being smuggled to other states and attempts are being made to take them abroad too.
This came to light after complaints that thousands of semen straws were missing from a government-run semen bank in Hisar.An inquiry in December 2012 found that 500 doses were stolen.The secretary of Haryana Livestock Board,Narender Khurana,who conducted the probe,confirmed this theft and held securitymen responsible for it.Three or four persons might have stolen the containers of semen, said an official.
The state animal husbandry department has been receiving reports that the semen is being sold at high rates in other states.Principal secretary (animal husbandry) P K Das told TOIthat security for semen banks would be made fool-proof to avoid a future theft.We have been getting information that the semen is being sold in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar for Rs 50 per dose,whereas its rate is fixed at Rs 12 by Haryana Livestock Development Board, said an official with animal husbandry department.
Normally,banks provide semen to cattle owners on the recommendation of the animal husbandry department.It can be given in bulk to government bodies or NGOs.
The Murrah buffalo is a massive,stocky animal with heavy bones and is also called black beauty.A good Murrah can fetch around Rs 2 lakh.Due to its high demand,the central government had in 2008 asked Haryana to provide 20,000 Murrah bulls to be crossbred with regular buffaloes in other states.Dairy owners from Delhi,Mumbai,Hyderabad and Bangalore often come to Haryana in search of the animal.
Attempts have also been made to smuggle the semen abroad.In 2011,a dairy farm owner from Gangwa village in Hisar tried to illegally export 5,000 semen straws to Egypt.The owner,Sumita Khasa,sought permission from the central government to export these doses as a gift to a professor of a Cairo-based agriculture university.
The Centre forwarded her request to Haryanas animal husbandry department as an NoC was required to export it.Surprised,state officials conducted a probe and found that the dairy farm owner had purchased over 8,000 doses from the Hisar semen bank before she sought permission from the Centre.Sensing something fishy,the state government declined permission.