Lumpy skin disease: Khattar directs officials to get cows, cattle vaccinated on priority

Chandigarh, Aug 19: Amid the spread of lumpy skin disease in Haryana, Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Friday directed the officials to work on a mission mode "just like the state did during Covid times". He directed Chief Secretary Sanjeev Kaushal to procure available vaccination and inoculate all cows and cattle on a war footing, besides monitoring the situation on a daily basis.

The minister also said he will speak with the Union Minister for Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying Parshottam Rupala and seek more vaccine doses to the state at the earliest.

Further, he directed the chief secretary to hold a meeting with all deputy commissioners, superintendents of police and the officials of the animal husbandry department to intensify measures to prevent the disease.

He ordered the officials to ensure that the pits dug to bury carcasses of infected animals are deep enough so that the disease does not spread, and also closely monitor gaushalas. "We have to work on a mission mode to fight this disease like we did during Covid," he said.

State Animal Husbandry and Dairying Minister J P Dalal connected through video conferencing. On Thursday, Opposition Congress had attacked the BJP-led dispensation in the state over the issue of lumpy skin disease, with party's senior leader Randeep Singh Surjewala saying though the cases were on the rise, the government had left the animals to their own fate.

The Rajya Sabha MP had said about 30,000 cows in 2,354 villages of 16 districts had been infected within a month and 200 of them had died. Former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, who is also Leader of the Opposition in the state, had alleged that the government had not shown the urgency to deal with the issue.