How an ambitious dairy project in Assam curdled into a scandal

India Today

a day ago

(NOTE: This article was originally published in the India Today issue dated July 21, 2025)It was in the cruel summer of 2021, amidst the second wave of Covid-19, that the bulldozers arrived in Gorukhuti. Encroached land, they called it. By the time the dust settled on this corner of Assam's Darrang district, hundreds of families—mostly Bangla-speaking Muslims of suspect citizenship—had lost their homes. On the cleared land was to be sown an ambitious promise: the Gorukhuti Bahumukhi Krishi Prakalpa (GBKP), a model project for indigenous farmers. Chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma painted a vision of agricultural renaissance rising from the ruins of displacement. Three years later, that vision has curdled into scandal.advertisementOne centrepiece of the project: Gir cows, famed for their milk production, would be imported from Gujarat to zip up Assam's dairy sector. At least that was the plan. Today, after Rs 17 crore spent, it has only yielded a trail of questions, controversies and disturbing animal mortality rates.
NO HOLY COWS
Here's how the milk boiled over. After a year, project control was ceded to an 11-member 'society' headed by Sootea MLA Padma Hazarika. Its roster boasted big BJP names like MP and state party chief Dilip Saikia, besides top bureaucrats. The procurement unfolded in three phases. Two were kosher: 98 cows, for Rs 82 lakh, in 2021; then 24 cows and a bullock, with World Bank funds, in January 2022. The third phase saw the twist.In April 2022, the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) was to deliver 300 Gir cows. In March 2023, state agriculture minister Atul Bora told the assembly all 300 were returned, the funds remaining unspent. But official records show he misled the House: 210 cows had indeed reached the site, with NDDB getting paid. Later, 154 cows were returned because of poor quality, while 56 died.The remaining 90 took a different path. An RTI reply showed that, on Hazarika's advice, these were to be distributed among farmers by seven 'public representatives'—the list reads like a who's who of Assam politics. BJP honcho Saikia took two. Three MLAs accounted for 16: Bhuban Pegu (10), Utpal Borah (4), Diganta Kalita (2). The lion's share went to two individuals with no official position, and one private firm. Babul Nath and Neeraj Bora, said to be close to Hazarika, got 30 and 20 respectively. JMB Aqua Agro, a dairy firm owned by Julee D. Baruah, wife of minister Jayanta Malla Baruah, got 20. No public ads, no selection criteria to explain the choices.Worse, the 90 prize cows were never distributed. They simply went into private hands. Hazarika first said the seven had 'bought' the cows, paying NDDB directly. But the paper trail belied that. Nath and Bora had paid NDDB directly. But it was GBKP that paid Rs 13.2 lakh for 20 'pregnant' cows taken by five beneficiaries, who had made payments at the deputy commissioner's office in Darrang. Saikia, instead of paying the full amount, offered himself a bite-sized discount of Rs 32,000. Scanty? Not so for the Opposition, which is whipping up good cream from the spilt milk.advertisementSubscribe to India Today Magazine- Ends