Animal welfare in State at stake, says Harish Rao

In an open letter addressed to CM A Revanth Reddy, Harish Rao said the govt had also failed to act on more pressing issues pertaining to the Department of Animal Husbandry, a portfolio which continued to be directly under the Chief Minister.

Hyderabad: Voicing concern over shortage of medicines that government veterinary hospitals were facing in the State, senior BRS leader T Harish Rao on Friday slammed the government for failing to address the issue adequately. In an open letter addressed to Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy, he said the government had also failed to act on more pressing issues pertaining to the Department of Animal Husbandry, a portfolio which continued to be directly under the Chief Minister. The disruption of veterinary ambulance services which was introduced during the previous regime, also remained a concern calling for the attention of the government. Delay in distribution of fish seed threatened to impact the pisciculture that thrived under the BRS rule. Milch animals that had been a source of supplementary income to the farmers were subjected to neglect. Effective veterinary care suffered a setback, he said.

Veterinary care for sheep and goats was also affected. The supply of all types of medicines including painkillers, vitamins and antibiotics was stopped for the last nine months. Dairy farmers were forced to spend up to Rs.2000 on their animals each time they took them to the veterinary hospitals for treatment of common diseases as they had to buy the medicines from private outlets. Even the medicines meant for deworming animals were not available in the hospitals.

---

Neither the Chief Minister nor any of the superior officers in the department could conduct so far a review on the functioning of the animal husbandry wing since the Congress party came to power. He demanded the Chief Minister to take steps to ensure that the mobile veterinary clinics were back in action in a full-fledged manner.He pointed out that the fish seed distribution programme did not take off this year so far. Tender process for procuring fish seedlings used to be completed by June every year. But there is no progress on this count so far under the Congress rule. The sheep distribution programme was already discontinued. He wanted the Chief Minister to focus due attention to the animal health care which is of significant importance for the farming community in the State.