Patna, Jan. 22: The state agriculture produce commissioner has summoned a meeting of senior officials of animal husbandry, panchayati raj and forest departments besides the chief conservator of forests on January 24 to deal with the problem of neelgais.

The meet will discuss ways as suggested by the member expert committee to take steps to protect the crops being damaged by the neelgais in the state. The burgeoning population of neelgais in the state has turned into a nightmare for farmers.

The issue has been raised at various forums from time to time be it the court, the finance minister’s pre-budget meeting, workshops and seminars. Agriculture produce commissioner Ashok Kumar Sinha constituted a four-member committee comprising directors of agriculture, horticulture, Bameti and an expert on agriculture — to give its recommendations to take appropriate measures to check the crop damage by neelgais.

The committee, constituted on the basis of feedback from farmers, forest and agriculture departments officials, scientists during a daylong worksjop organised by Bameti, has recommended a slew of measures to tackle the problem of neelgais.

The expert committee, the recommendations of which APC sent to the aforesaid top officials of the department for consideration a month ago, has recommended giving limited licence to neelgais after reaching a consensus over the issue along with political parties and representatives of three-tier panchayati raj in areas affected by the neelgai menace.

The environment and forest departments would reward the licensee Rs 500 or an amount fixed by the department if the person (licensee) hands over the dead body of a neelgai, the committee’s report said, while making it clear that this exercise would be done to keep record of the number of neelgais killed in a particular panchayat.

“The department would review the limited permission to kill the neelgai at regular intervals so that provisions of the wildlife act are not violated,” said R.K. Sohane, the director of Bihar Agricultural Management and Extension Training Institute (Bameti), one of the committee members. After conducting tests and research, Krishi Vigyan Kendra and the university would come out with an alternate crop farming that would be less affected by neelgais in the areas concerned, the report said. It further recommended that select areas in Bhojpur and Aurangabad districts where seeds of pulses were planted must be protected with the help of solar energy-based barricading.

The magnitude of crop damage could be gauged from the fact that Patna High Court has taken serious note of the petition filed by Gram Gaurav Sansthan, an NGO, explaining the crop damage that has ruined the lives of several small farmers. The court had asked the central and state governments to take steps to protect the standing crops which are damaged by neelgais in particular parts of the state.

The neelgai menace could be gauged from the fact that their population has touched around 25,000 in some of the districts, the NGO had submitted, while adding that the farmers cannot kill them as the neelgais were protected under the wildlife act.

Farmers had even raised the neelgai issue during a pre-budget meeting with the state finance minister Sushil Kumar Modi on Thursday. Farmers had sought some kind of assistance in the form of subsidy in the budget if neelgais damaged their crop.