THATTA, July 15: The Sindh livestock and fisheries department will establish 100 dairy villages to meet milk and meat requirements of Karachi.

Talking to this correspondent here on Thursday, livestock and fisheries director-general Dr Baz Mohammad Junejo disclosed that the villages would spread over 800 acres of land along Super and National highways

He said Karachi's per day milk requirement was eight million litres, out of which 1.5 million litres were transported to the city from interior of Sindh. Dr Junejo said measures were being taken for livestock development in the desert area, adding that Umerkot, Mirpurkhas and Sanghar districts provided 2,000 buffaloes and 200 to 300 other cattle daily to Karachi.

About protecting livestock in Thar against diseases, he said steps had been taken to eradicate "ECTO" and "ENDO" parasites, which according to him caused 40 per cent livestock deaths.

He said a fish hatchery would soon be established in Sanghar and a Kachhi sheep breeding farm and a disease diagnostic laboratory in Mirpurkhas. The official said there were 8.761 million buffaloes, 7.195 million cattle, 4.906 million sheep and 13.038 million goats in Sindh.

A number of livestock owners of Thatta said livestock and fisheries department claims about improvement of the sector were false. They said the artificial insemination service in the district was lying ineffective and several veterinary hospitals were not functioning. They demanded that concrete measures should be taken to make livestock and fisheries a productive sector.

Our Sukkur Correspondent adds: The government of Sindh has allocated an amount of Rs15.088 million to carry out on-going development schemes in the district during the current financial year.