BARPETA, July 20 � Hundreds of buffaloes here perished due to a deadly infectious disease, suspected to be haemorragic septicemia, and at least a hundred others are suffering from the symptoms, foretelling a bleak future for buffalo rearers in Barpeta district. Scores of buffalo carcasses were floating on the Hablakhoa Beel, a notified fishery of the Assam Fisheries Development Corporation, situated by the Amrikhowa Majdia Road, south of Amrikhowa village.
Significantly, even after the passage of almost two months since the outbreak of the contagious disease which has already taken an epidemic turn and caused extensive damage to livestock and milk farmers, the Veterinary Department and the district administration have allegedly done little to cope with the situation so far.
There are a number of buffalo farms (locally known as mahkhuti or bathan) in Amrikhowa and its adjoining areas in the eastern part of the district bordering Nalbari district. A considerable section of the people in that part of the district live by selling milk. There is a wide and open grazing reserve surrounding Kapala, Salmara, Hablakhowa and Silla beels. But during April and May, there is scarcity of grass and water and the buffaloes are taken to the char areas of the Brahmaputra in the neighboring Nalbari district for grazing.
Like in the previous years, the livestock were taken to the Laupara area along the Brahmaputra this season, too, and the disease reportedly broke out there. The bathan owners took home their animals only to face the dire consequences.
�I have lost 15 baffaloes so far and three more are sick,� said Dinabandhu Nayak, a milk farmer. The plight of Damodar Nayak is even worse as he lost all five cattle which were the only source of income for him. He said that the sale of green fodder is now the only means of livelihood for him.
Other milk farmers who have suffered losses include Kanak Das, Lohit Deka, Hiteswar Deka, Batu Das, Uttam Deka, Manoranjan Deka, Dhano Barman, Raham Ali and Hiren Deka.
The cattle farmers alleged that the Veterinary Department has not taken any effective steps to prevent the disease. They have to buy medicines from the open market at exorbitant prices. The medicines marked �not to be sold� were bought from pharmacies, giving a clear indication that some corrupt Veterinary personnel have taken advantage of the helpless condition of the poor farmers.
Meanwhile, a health hazard is imminent in the area as movement along the Amrikhowa Majdia PWD Road has become quite impossible due to the stench emanating from the rotten caracasses. It is feared that the disease could spread to other localities and other animals as the grazing reserve is the main source of fodder for more than 100 villages in the eastern part of the district. The water bodies in which the caracasses have been disposed of are used by most of the local people .
There are apprehensions that milk production will substantially decrease due to the death of the milch animals. When contacted, veterinary surgeon Dr Bhagirath Deka, posted at the State Veterinary Hospital at Sarthebari, informed that he came to know about the outbreak of the disease only on July 14 and had informed the matter to the district authority immediately. Vaccines were supplied and administered the next day itself, he claimed. He also informed that though the vaccines are supplied by the Government free of cost, most medicines for treatment have to be bought from the open market.
But the farmers contradicted Dr Deka�s claims and alleged that no vaccines were administered to the buffaloes and these were administered to a few cows at random in the village.
The local people here demanded that the rest of the cattle in the area should be treated free of cost and the farmers who suffered losses should be provided with adequate compensation to cope with the situation.