16 cows brought under insurance scheme

Agartala, Nov 2 (UNI) About 16 cows of Shankar breed in the North East region were brought under the cover of the insurance scheme soon after its introduction yesterday at Natunbazar near here.

The scheme was inaugurated by Chief Minister Manik Sarkar, in which 16 Shankar cows, were brought under the insurance policy for the first time in entire NE region.

The Centre had sanctioned a financial help of Rs 42 lakhs for this purpose.

The Shankar cows give about five litres of milk at a time, sources said.

Soon after this about 166 persons have registered their names to avail the policy for their cows, official sources said.

Initially, the state's west district would be covered and later implemented in other districts, sources said.

The policy would be for three years and the age of the cows would have to be below ten years as per the scheme. The owner of the cows would be eligible to insure maximum two cows by paying a premimum of 4.8 per cent of the animal's total cost.

The policy was introduced in the state by the Centre to make the state self sufficient in milk production by 2010, Mr Sarkar said.

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