Yogesh K Porwar & Avanth Kumar Kankariya
Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai directed the Finance Department to immediately release Rs 13 crore for treatment and vaccination of cattle suffering from lumpy skin disease and also to provide relief for the dead cattle.
Speaking at a meeting to review the fast spreading disease among the cattle here on Friday, he said Rs.2 crore had already been released as the compensation for the dead cattle.
An additional Rs 5 crore will be released towards the treatment of diseased cattle and Rs 8 crore for vaccinating them.
This disease has been noticed in 4380 villages of 160 taluks in 28 districts. Of the total 45,645 cattle afflicted by this disease, 26,135 have recovered and 2070 have died.
Provide 15 lakh vaccines
He said as many as 6.57 lakh cattle have been vaccinated.As per guidelines of Government of India, even the healthy cattle within five km range where this disease has been noticed, must be vaccinated.
The vaccination must be done on priority in the chronically affected districts and immediately obtain 15 lakh doses of vaccine from the companies approved by the Government of India.
The secretary, Department of Animal Husbandry must take steps for the starting of vaccination immediately. While Rs 2 crore had been paid as compensation for the deceased cattle, Rs 46.15 lakh was pending and that must be disbursed at the earliest.
Will not spread to people
Bommai clarified that this disease will not be spread to people by drinking the milk from the diseased cows, and awareness in this regard must be done on a big scale.
Steps must be taken to check this disease in the badly-hit districts, Haveri and Kolar, and take preventive steps so that it is not spread to other districts. Before that the vaccination drive must be intensified.
Minister for Animal Husbandry Prabhu Chavan, CM Principal Secretary N.Manjunath Prasad, Finance Department Secretary P.C.Jaffer, Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Sciences Department Secretary Salma Fahim and others were present.
