The Ministry of External Affairs has denied political clearance to Punjab Agriculture Minister Gurmeet Singh Khudian and his team of officers to visit the US.This is not the first time that political clearance has been refused to a minister of the Aam Aadmi Party government in Punjab. Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann was denied permission to visit Paris Olympics last year. In 2022, political clearance was also denied to minister Aman Arora when he had sought permission to travel to Germany and Belgium.The team, which also included Animal Husbandry Principal Secretary Rahul Bhandari and Director Dr GS Bedi, was to visit the laboratory of ABS Global in Wisconsin in the US to strike a deal for getting sexed semen for the Holstein Friesian (HF) breed of cows, which are preferred by dairy farmers in Punjab. The clearance was sought for the trip from March 29 to April 6.Sources in the government confirmed that the clearance had been denied. The letter seeking permission was sent earlier this month, and after a week, the Ministry of External Affairs sent a reply saying the “clearance cannot be given”. Expenses for the visit were to be borne by the Punjab Livestock Development Board.“The Punjab Government has been in talks with ABS Global to get sexed semen for the HF breed of cows. Most of the dairy farmers prefer these over the Gir or Sahiwal breeds. This is because HF cows give a high yield of milk—up to 81 litres a day,” said a senior government functionary.He added, “Though artificial insemination is used for impregnating 30 lakh cows, sexed semen is available for only 1.5-1.75 lakh cows. The way to go forward in dairy development is to get at least five lakh sexed semen vials every year to ensure that cows are born. The global sexed semen giant, ABS Global, has been in talks to set up a lab in Punjab for that. We wanted to formalise the deal, but it will now have to wait.”