Gujarat Kisan Congress members addressed a press conference in Ahmedabad on Monday to raise concerns over the spread of Lumpy Skin Disease (LSD) and crop failure due to heavy rains in Gujarat. Lumpy is spread in 536 villages of Saurashtra and Kutch, including Rajkot.
Chairman of Gujarat Kisan Congress, Palbhai Ambaliya, said “District officers in Kutch claim that they have vaccinated 80,000 cows with the man power of only 14 doctors. Is this even humanly possible? The current government is a government of numbers–there is no on ground implementation, only big promises.”
Over 999 cattle, especially cows and buffaloes, have died in Gujarat due to the lumpy skin disease. This viral disease is spread by mosquitoes, flies, lice, wasps, by direct contact among the cattle, and through contaminated food and water.
Earlier, Gujarat’s Agriculture minister Raghavji Patel claimed that over 37,000 animals have been treated for the ailment and 2.68 lakh vaccinated to prevent its spread.
“In Gujarat, around 2 lakh animals are vaccinated but the initiative was taken by charitable organisations and private bodies–the government is just taking the credit for work done by others.” adds Ambaliya. He hails from Devbhoomi Dwarka.
The viral disease has been reported in Gujarat’s 14 districts — Kutch, Jamnagar, Devbhumi Dwarka, Rajkot, Porbandar, Morbi, Surendranagar, Amreli, Bhavnagar, Botad, Junagadh, Gir Somnath, Banaskantha and Surat. “The spread of Lumpy virus began from Jamnagar, Dwarka and Kutch and we brought it to government’s notice over two months ago but it was only on July 22, 2022 that the State government issued a circular to acknowledge and address this issue.” adds Ambaliya.
Crop failure due to heavy rain
Congress member CJ Chavda emphasised on the double whammy for farmers, “Farmers are suffering from crop failure due to heavy rains in Gujarat. Poor pre-monsoon plan of the government has led to damage of infrastructure, agriculture and livestock in villages but farmers have received no financial assistance from the government.”
