Rajasthan BJP MLA gets cow to assembly, bovine runs away within minutes
Sep 20, 2022
Jaipur (Rajasthan) [India], September 20 : In an unusual incident, Pushkar BJP MLA Suresh Rawat reached the Rajasthan Assembly along with a cow on Monday.
The act was carried out with to protest against the spread of Lumpy disease in livestock.
As soon as the BJP MLA reached the spot and started giving a statement, the cow ran away.
On September 19, Rajasthan Chief Minister took note of the issue and said that the addressal of the lumpy disease is the state government's priority however the vaccines for the same would be given by the Centre.
"I called a meeting on August 15 regarding lumpy skin disease and called the leaders of the opposition, talked to everyone, talked to the religious leaders, our priority is how to save the lives of cows from lumpy skin disease, but the central government will give the vaccines and medicines," tweeted CM Gehlot.
As per reports, Lumpy disease is a viral disease that affects cattle. It is transmitted by blood-feeding insects, such as certain species of flies and mosquitoes, or ticks. It causes fever and nodules on the skin and can lead to the death of the cattle.
The disease had been ravaging cattle across the country with cows from Maharashtra, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, and Punjab dying in large numbers.
Earlier on September 18, as many as 126 cattle died and 25 districts have been infected by the Lumpy virus in Maharashtra, informed the state's animal husbandry department on Saturday.
"A total of 126 infected animals have died including 47 in Jalgaon district, 21 in Ahmednagar District, 2 in Dhule, 18 in Akola, 14 in Pune, two in Latur, six in Satara, five in Buldhana, seven in Amravati, one in Sangli, one in Washim, one in Jalna and one in Nagpur District," the release stated.
The release further informed that although Lumpy Skin Disease (LSD) is rapidly spreading, it is not transmitted to human beings either from animals or through cow milk.
"Lumpy Skin Disease (LSD) has been rapidly spreading all throughout the Maharashtra state. It is a cutaneous viral disease of the bovines. This disease is not transmitted to human beings either from animals or through cow milk," the animal husbandry department release stated.
On August 10, Union Minister for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Narendra Singh Tomar launched the indigenous vaccine Lumpi-ProVac to protect livestock from Lumpy skin disease with an aim to provide relief to the livestock of the country.
The vaccine has been developed by the National Equine Research Center, Hisar (Haryana) in collaboration with the Indian Veterinary Research Institute, Izzatnagar (Bareilly).
While on August 16, former Union minister and Shiromani Akali Dal leader Harsimrat Kaur Badal slammed the Punjab government for not taking note of the damage that the 'Lumpy Skin Disease' had been causing in the region and demanded a compensation of Rs 50,000 per animal to mitigate the burden on the rearers.
She also stressed that the disease had proved to be fatal for hundreds of bovines in the northern state.
"Lumpy Skin Disease is ravaging livestock in Punjab. Hundreds of bovines have died and thousands are severely infected with this contagious disease that is causing enormous economic loss to our farmers and dairy owners. Unfortunately, AAP-led Punjab govt has failed to do the needful," tweeted Badal.
She further outlined the measures that can be taken by the AAP-led government and listed a compensation of Rs 50,000 per animal to mitigate the burden on rearers.