Year on, Kupwara youth await promised sheep-rearing units

Kupwara, Dec 11: Numerous young individuals in the Kupwara district of north Kashmir find themselves still awaiting the promised free sheep-rearing units from the Sheep Husbandry Department, a year after the initiative was announced.

Despite the initial anticipation and hopes of bolstering livelihoods through this initiative, the delay has left these aspiring entrepreneurs grappling with uncertainty and frustration.

They have expressed strong resentment against authorities for failing to provide them with sheep units even after approaching the concerned officials numerous times.

Local youth said that after due process, their names were figured in the final list following which they were told that during one month they would be provided the sheep but nothing like that happened even after moving from pillar to post.

“On one side the government is encouraging unemployed educated youth to set up their ventures but on the other hand, they are being pushed to the wall. I had decided to set up the sheep rearing unit and after accomplishing all the formalities I am not being provided the sheep. We were told that each youth would get ten sheep within one month after our names figured in the final list but nothing like that happened,” an aggrieved youth said.

“We were supposed to get sheep from the retrieval quota but the department has failed to retrieve livestock from the previous beneficiaries thus making things difficult for us. Since the concerned department has a sheep rearing unit at Churnar Rajwar, the officials can easily provide us with livestock to avoid further delay,” he added.

When this correspondent brought this issue to the notice of District Sheep Husbandry Officer Dr Ishrat, he said that the scheme was based on retrieval mode. “Most of the beneficiaries in recent years have turned defaulters which happens to be the main reason for being late in providing the livestock to the new beneficiaries. We have started legal action against defaulters, I hope within some time all the new candidates will be provided livestock,” he added.