Gujarat govt declares 15 districts “Controlled Areas” as lumpy skin disease spreads

Gandhinagar, July 28 (IANS) Amid the alarming spread of Lumpy Skin Disease (LSD), a viral infection affecting cattle in the state, the Gujarat government has declared 15 districts as “Controlled areas”.A notification issued by Deputy Secretary (Animal Husbandry) Dr K.N. Trivedi said that now cattle can not be transported out of these districts.”The Government of Gujarat, hereby declares districts Amreli, Banaskantha, Bhavnagar, Botad, Dev-Bhumi Dwarka, Gir-Somnath, Jamnagar, Junagadh, Kutch, Morbi, Porbandar, Rajkot, Surendranagar, and Patan as “Controlled Areas” in respect of “Lumpy Skin Disease”, as it is scheduled disease for cattle,” the notification read.The state government has directed all these district administrations to prohibit the movement of cattle from the place where they are kept to any other places within and outside the said districts.District authorities will ensure that no live cattle trade, fair, exhibition, games and gathering in these districts should take place. This is to be enforced till the disease is brought under control.Till Wednesday evening, the disease had spread to 1,222 villages of 15 districts, 43,187 cattle were being treated for the disease, 3.33 lakh cattle were being vaccinated, and 1066 cattle had died, said a press statement.–IANSharesh/shb/