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State Govt yet to release fund for culling drive

By Staff Reporter - 15 Sep 2010 12:00 AM GMT

GUWAHATI, Oct 5 - With the State government yet to release the required fund as proposed, the State animal husbandry and veterinary department may not be able to start the culling process to contain spread of the African swine fever (ASF) before Durga Puja.

Notably, on September 23, during a meeting with officials of the department, Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal had directed the department to complete culling of the ASF-infected swine population before the ensuing Durga Puja.

According to a source, the department had submitted a proposal for Rs 8 crore to the State government to carry out the culling drive across the State. But till date the finance department has not released the same.

The expense of the proposed culling drive will be borne by both the State and Union governments and the source said that the Centre has already released its share.

At the September 23 meeting, Sonowal also admitted that the Central government had already released the first instalment of the fund and the State government would immediately release its share.

As part of the culling process, the department will pay compensation against every pig to be killed and feed to be destroyed. Accordingly, the department will pay Rs 2,200 against a pig weighing upto 15 kg, Rs 5,800 against a pig weighing 15 to 40 kg, Rs 8,400 against a pig weighing 40 to 70 kg, Rs 12,000 against a pig weighing 70 to 100 kg and Rs 15,000 against a pig weighing above 100 kg. Similarly, a pig rearer will get Rs 22 for every kilogram of feed to be destroyed.

To carry out the culling drive, the department has already arranged 14 electric stunner machines to kill pigs in a painless way.

According to a source in the department, till date as many as 17,000 pigs have died due to ASF in the districts of Dhemaji, Lakhimpur, Biswanath, Nagaon, Majuli, Jorhat, Dibrugarh, Sivasagar, Golaghat and Karbi Anglong (both East and West). As per an estimate the culling drive will cover around 12,000 pigs and around 2,000 pig rearers in these districts.

The department has detected altogether 32 epicentres of the disease in the affected districts and initially the drive will cover seven epicentres in Sivasagar (three), Dhemaji (one), Jorhat (one), Golaghat (one) and Biswanath (one).

The spread of ASF in the State was detected in the first part of May. It severely affected some districts like Sivasagar, Dhemaji, Lakhimpur, Biswanath, etc. Infection from the disease is still continuing in some districts like Dhemaji and Sivasagar.