Centre sends animal experts team to Gujarat to control lumpy virus spread

The Central government has deputed a team of animal experts team to Gujarat to study and control the Lumpy Skin disease, Agriculture Minister Raghavji Patel said on Monday.

The Central government has deputed a team of animal experts team to Gujarat to study and control the Lumpy Skin disease in the state and it has already started working in the affected area, state Agriculture Minister Raghavji Patel said on Monday.

Till Monday evening, 1,021 heads of cattle had died because of disease, some 40,222 are affected and under treatment in 15 districts and 2,94,000 animals have been vaccinated, he said at a press conference here.

He said that the worst-affected districts are Kutch and Jamnagar, while in the rest 13, the impact is limited. The state government has deputed 267 animal ambulances with veterinary doctors, while another 151 doctors and 400 animal inspectors are working round the clock to treat animals and control the spread, Patel added.

On the other hand, the opposition Congress alleged that the state government is underplaying death figures and sharing inflated vaccination figures.

Gujarat Congress Kisan Morcha president Pal Ambaliya alleged that the Kutch district has just 14 veterinary doctors and within few days, the district administration claims to have vaccinated 80,000 heads of cattle, which is next to impossible.

According Ambaliya, in this month, a video clip from Mundra taluka in Kutch was in circulation, showing dead cattle on streets of the villages, and only after this, had the district administration woken up.

The minister, however, dismissed these allegations.

--IANS

haresh/vd