Army to finally wind down its cattle farms

New Delhi, Mar 30: More than three years after the defence ministry cleared a proposal to shut 39 military cattle farms across the country, the Army is finally disbanding them, official sources said on Tuesday.

A flag ceremony is being held at Delhi Cantonment on Wednesday, marking winding down of the farms, they said. In August 2017, the defence ministry had announced a series of reform measures for the Indian Army which included shutting down the military farms, housing around 25,000 head of cattle.

These farms were occupying around 20,000 acres of defence land across the country and the Army was spending around Rs 300 crore annually for their maintenance. The farms were set up by the British to ensure supply of milk to Army units.

The Army has decided to "transfer" all the cattle kept in the farms to government departments or dairy cooperatives at a nominal cost.