Palakkad: A group of dairy farmers who were bringing high-yielding cows from a market in Erode to Malappuram, Wayanad and Thrissur were in for a surprise at the Walayar checkpost on Friday. Their four trucks were blocked at the motor vehicles check post and made to pay a fine of Rs 4,000 for each vehicle. Mr Hari Parappur, dairy farmer from Perinthalmanna, said that the inspectors slapped the fine citing a circular of the union government issued in 2016 which insists that such cattle should be transported in a truck with special permits.
“They imposed a fine of Rs 4,000 and made us pay Rs 500 more. If this circular is put into practice, it will be a setback for the dairy farmers in Kerala, who get subsidy only if they buy high- yielding cows from other states,” Mr Parappur said. The MVD officials at Walayar told DC that the GO regarding such permits to transport cows was issued last year but was not strictly implemented. Recently, the Transport Commissioner had ordered all the MV check posts to implement the order and hence such a fine was imposed. Mr Parappur said that other than collecting Rs 4,500, no specific direction was given to the farmers on how to bring the cows in future from Tamil Nadu or other states.
