The Indira Gandhi Centre for Advanced Research in Livestock (IGCARL), the only one of its kind in the country, set up at Pulivendula in Kadapa district in 2009 on a sprawling area of 657 acres with an outlay of Rs. 386 crore is presenting a picture of neglect.
Inaugurating the IGCARL research block on January 25, 2009, former Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy had promised to develop it into a world-class research institute that would generate employment for 750 persons and indirect employment for 1,000 more. The hopes of farmers who had parted with their lands expecting that their kin would get employment have been belied.
Besides, testing and certification of milk, meat and eggs for pesticides and antibiotic residues and composition for export purposes were proposed. Research on nano-biology, molecular genetics, cytogenetics, cryobiology, microbiology and immunology and animal nutrition to develop vaccines to improve animal health and productivity was another objective of the centre.
SEZ set upA special economic zone was set up at IGCARL on public-private partnership (PPP) basis. The centre also entered into an understanding with Dodla Diary, which offered to invest Rs. 100 crore on research and development. And, the subsequent development was that Dodla Dairy began raising its milch cattle in the livestock complex.
The centre received no attention from successive governments or the official machinery after YSR’s demise. Hopes were rekindled after an NRI, Polavarapu Ratnagiri, the chief executive officer of US-based Genomics Biotech, recently inspected the centre. He set the ball rolling by apprising the Department of Biotechnology (DBT) that the centre had basic amenities but faced resource crunch and attention.
A DBT biotechnologist, S.R. Rao, is expected to inspect the centre on November 17 and forward a comprehensive report to the Union government. Ph.D. scholars will get an opportunity to conduct research at the centre if the DBT sanctions funds, according to deputy CEO of IGCARL K.D. Prasad.
