Thiruvananthapuram, Jan 2 (IANS): An award-winning teenaged dairy farmer Mathew and his brother George got a major surprise on Tuesday morning when State Minister of Animal Husbandry Chinchu Rani and her Cabinet colleague State Minister for Water Resource Roshy Augustine came calling on them and pledged to support them.

The two ministers came was after hearing the sad news of the death of 13 cows owned by the two brothers dying within the span of a few hours a few days ago, leaving the two youngsters deeply distressed.

The cattle farm which had 22 cows is located in Idukki district and the estimated loss to the young cattle farmers was in excess of Rs 1 million.

The 15-year-old Mathew became unconscious after witnessing the tragedy and was admitted to a nearby hospital.

The teenager was unable to bear the loss as the cows were the main source of income for the family after their father’s sudden death.

Mathew has been in the news ever since he won the best child dairy farmer award in 2021.

The reason for the sudden deaths has been identified as cyanide toxicity after they were fed tapioca skin.

“We have come to see you both and give you our full support. We will give you the finance to buy five cows to start with, of which Rs 45,000 will be sanctioned immediately. On Wednesday this case will be presented before the state Cabinet by me. Additional support will also be made tomorrow by the Chief Minister. We will give you cattle feed free of cost for one month,” said Rani.

Meanwhile, popular actor Jayaram is also planning to meet Mathew and his brother.

“A few years ago, we were also in deep distress after 22 cows in our cattle farm dropped dead one after the other. So no one knows better than me what these two young boys are going through. I will be visiting them to comfort them and support them to rebuild their cattle farm,” said Jayaram.