Punjab: Carcasses of Cow Dying With Lumpy Skin Disease Piling up in Faridkot District
Representational use only.Image Courtesy: NDTV
Rotting carcasses of four cows which were affected by lumpy skin disease have been lying in the open at a dumping site in the Faridkot district.
Villagers in Bargari village of the district had opposed unloading the dead cows at the dumping site four days ago. Since then, they have been lying in the open.
"We are trying to control the stench by pouring quicklime on the carcasses. These will be buried soon," said village sarpanch Preet Bhaluria.
A similar thing is also happening in Golewala village of the district, where the unbearable stench of nine rotting carcasses in a gaushala has made life difficult for the residents living nearby for the last three days.
There were about 525 cows in the gaushala; nine died due to the lumpy skin disease. The facility doesn't have any space for the burial of the dead animals.
Notably, the district administration looks after the gaushala; around 11 employees work there. The employees have complained that they haven't received their salaries for the past five months.
Faridkot SDM Baljit Kaur, the administrator of the gaushala, said that her office hadn't received any funds from the Rural Development and Animal Husbandry Department despite repeated reminders.
Sandeep Gupta, Deputy Director, Animal Husbandry Department in the district, claimed that the situation is under control, further saying that around 39 cows have died due to the lumpy skin disease in the area.
"Our teams are working on ground level to provide help," he said.
Jalour Singh, Baggeana village, disagrees with Gupta's claims. Singh said he lost his four cows in the last seven days.
"Money from the milk of these cows was the main source of income in my family," he said.
The disease is also affecting the sale of carcasses to professionals who would sell them to the leather industry; as the dead bodies develop lesions with scabs, scars and ulcers, it affects the demand for 'perforated skin', discouraging the lifting of dead animals.
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