Chandigarh, Jan 25 (PTI) Punjab Animal Husbandry Minister Laljit Singh Bhullar on Wednesday said the state government has airlifted 25 lakh doses of goat pox vaccine to carry out free vaccination campaign for early prevention of cattle from lumpy skin disease.
Keeping in mind last year’s situation when the state faced loss of livestock after the disease spread in Punjab from neighbouring states, the state government has made foolproof strategy to ensure that it does not affect the farming community, livestock and agri-subsidiary occupations.
“Complying to the decision of the Group of Ministers constituted for the prevention of LSD and to make future strategy, the state level mega vaccination campaign will be started from February 15, 2023,” said the Animal Husbandry Minister in a statement here.
He said all arrangements have been made to carry out the mega vaccination drive, which will last for about 45 days and free vaccination will be administered to cattle till March 31.
Bhullar said 25 lakh vaccine doses have been procured from a government institution– ‘Telangana State Veterinary Biological and Research Institute, Hyderabad’. These doses have been stored at Punjab Veterinary Vaccine Institute, Ludhiana, for dispatching to all districts of the state easily, he said.
He said special care has been ensured to maintain the cold chain for the quality of the vaccine while transporting it from Telangana.
Bhullar said for effective implementation of the vaccination campaign, a joint director level officer will be appointed as a nodal officer who will monitor day-to-day progress and maintain coordination with other staff. The vaccination will be administered by forming teams at the level of animal hospital/institution and special attention will be paid to maintain cold chain during vaccination, he said.
According to an official statement, the Lumpy Skin Disease, had affected the cattle on a large scale in July last year. About 1.75 lakh cattle were affected across the state and about 18,000 cattle died.
Amid the seriousness of LSD and to save the economy of the livestock farmers, a Group of Ministers (GoM) comprising Punjab Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema, Agriculture Minister Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal and Animal Husbandry Minister Laljit Singh Bhullar was formed which held regular meetings with the experts of Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Sciences University, Ludhiana.
The government had airlifted 10.16 lakh doses at a cost of Rs.1.54 crore last year and 9.2 lakh cattle were vaccinated free of cost. PTI CHS VSD TDS TDS
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