Lack of government veterinary staff, private veterinary doctors in Rangareddy

Rangareddy: Veterinary centres are closing down due to the laxity of officials and the negligence of public representatives. For the development of the dairy industry, and the management of milk cooling, the central government is providing credit facilities to the farmers, while the state government is providing subsidized lambs for meat growth. But the doctors were not appointed to treat sick dairy cattle, sheep, and goats, and government veterinary centres were empty due to a shortage of doctors and lack of management. Due to a lack of medical officers and staff to provide veterinary services in rural areas, private individuals started extorting money from farmers.

According to the calculations of the veterinary department, the total number of dairy cattle, sheep, and goats in the district is 14,31,601. There are 2,40,826 dairy cows, while there are 1,67,018 dairy buffaloes, 7,67,125 sheep, and 2,56,632 goats, these are only official calculations. There is a possibility of this number increasing unofficially. No matter how big the dairy industry is growing, there are not enough medical personnel to treat sick cattle.

There are four regional veterinary centres in the Rangareddy district, while there are 46 mandal veterinary centres, 87 rural veterinary centres, and only four mobile medical vehicles. Due to the unavailability of veterinary officers, diseased cattle are dying. Due to insufficient staff and unmanaged veterinary centres, dairy farmers are facing serious difficulties.

As the government is not filling the vacancies, the unemployed young men and women in despair are dependent on the dairy industry for family sustenance. As a result of this, small marginal farmers with one and a half acres of land, young men and women, are taking loan facility from banks to buy dairy cows and buffaloes to support their families with the income from milk.

Private veterinary doctors are looting innocent farmers by providing treatment. The farmers said that private veterinary doctors are charging around Rs.500 to Rs.1000 for an injection of glucose into a dairy animal. They claim that the income they get from the dairy is only enough to give to private veterinary doctors to treat the animals.

Youth Congress Kesampet Mandal President Bhaskar Goud said that in rural areas, dairy cattle, goats, and sheep are dying due to lack of veterinary centres or diseases. Most villages have closed veterinary centres due to a lack of medical staff, now the government should take steps to re-open the veterinary centres and provide medical services.

Echoing the same, farmers leader, Ande Babaiah said that as the government does not fill the vacancies, the unemployed young men and women rely on dairy farming for their livelihood.