Govt’s cow welfare mission cleared Rs 2 cr in aid for ‘firm run by conman Sherpuria’

An email seeking comments from the Department of Animal Husbandry remained unanswered. Calls to Bhushan Tyagi, Joint Commissioner (RGM), who is in-charge of the BMF initiative, remained unanswered.

Responding to a query, a senior official in NDDB said, “NDDB has not done verification of the project till now. Subsidy amount can only be released to Youth Rural Entrepreneur Foundation after the verification, so the amount is not released.”

NDDB sources said after the ministry approved the project, the NDDB contacted YREF for physical verification and asked if the bank had released the first tranche of the loan. “But the foundation has not responded till date,” the source said.

The BMF initiative is aimed at making available to farmers high genetic merit heifers of cattle, and buffalo breeds. Under the scheme, the Centre provides 50 per cent capital subsidy (limited to Rs 2 crore) to the entrepreneur for construction of cattle sheds, equipment, procurement of elite bull mothers, etc.

“Department of Animal Husbandry & Dairying (DAHD) has assessed your Detailed Project Report (DPR) along with supporting documents for establishment of BMF with total outlay of Rs 585.00 lakh,” the department said in the letter to YREF.

“Your proposal has been approved to avail the financial assistance in the form of subsidy under the component of Establishment of Breed Multiplication Farm under RGM, subject to your bank releasing loan amount as proposed in DPR. An amount of Rs 200 lakh has been approved as subsidy for your project, which will be released by National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) as per guidelines of the project and grant agreement,” it said.

In his social media posts, Rai, who was arrested Tuesday by the Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force, claims a close association with NDDB. In fact, he was invited as a special guest to a Rashtriya Dairy mela organised by NDDB at Karnal in Haryana earlier this month on April 11.

As reported in The Indian Express Thursday, the Dalmia Family Office Trust of industrialist Gaurav Dalmia paid Rs 6 crore to YREF on January 23 this year. Sources close to the trust said the Family Office Trust has made donations of over Rs 100 crore over the last 5-6 years to charity. They said Rai had introduced YREF to them, but claimed he was not formally associated with the foundation.

As per records of the Union Ministry of Corporate Affairs, YREF was incorporated on October 30, 2019. While YREF has an office in Varanasi, it operates from Ghazipur, which is also Rai’s hometown. Rai does not hold any position in the company, but in its FIR the UP police claimed Rai runs the company.