HT Correspondent 

SIVASAGAR, July 23: Pig breeder Indra (Jun) Buragohain of Simaluguri Luthurigaon had 11 full grown pigs and 8 piglets till July 2. However, by July 15 all his pigs had died owing to the suspected African Swine Fever outbreak in the district. A disheartened Buragohain did not inform the veterinarians in Santok or in Nazira sub-divisional office and dumped all carcasses in pits in his yard.

On receipt of the information, Dr Bubul Gogoi, SDVO, Nazira; Dr Lachit Bora, Block veterinary officer, Veterinary department; Dr Bipul Bhattachrjya with field assistants went to Luthurigaon and made a thorough investigation of the occurrence of the viral disease and submitted a report to the district veterinary officer Dr Akshayvat Kesari on July 19. The department has taken all possible measures to arrest the spread of the virus in the area of about 2 km from the epicentre. Intensive awareness camps are also being held in Nazira, Simaluguri, and Santok on the preventive measures and sanitisers have been distributed among the people. Additionally, the selling of pork meat has been banned for ten days in nearby Hatimuria, Bailung gaon and Soladhora as precautionary measures.

DVO Dr Kesari informed media persons that a conclusion can only be drawn after the reports are received from Guwahati. He added that viral diseases during the rainy season may occur in many places as pre-monsoon vaccination camps could not be organised due to the lack of vaccines for cattle, goats and poultry this year. Notably, many government veterinary centres are lying in a dilapidated condition, which has raised an alarm among the citizens upon its credibility to deal with the matter.