Punjab Government on Friday declared Bandugar village of Patiala district and Mandofal village of Fatehgarh Sahib district as African Swine Fever (ASF) affected zones and notified these areas as ‘infected zones’ for the prevention of the ASF.
Giving more details, the state’s Animal Husbandry, Fisheries and Dairy Development Minister Laljit Singh Bhullar said that the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) -National High Security Animal Disease Institute, Bhopal, has confirmed ASF in the samples from these areas.
“For the prevention of the disease in these villages, restrictions under the provisions of ‘The Prevention and Control of Infectious and Contagious Diseases in Animals Act, 2009’, and the ‘National Action Plan for Control, Containment and Eradication of African Swine Fever (June 2020)’ have been strictly imposed and are being ensured,” said the Minister, instructing the officials to keep a close eye on every situation.
The Minister said that 0 to one kilometre area of the villages declared as epicenters would be considered as “infected zones” while 0 to 10 KM (9 KM) area is classified as “surveillance zones”.
“No live or dead pig (including feral or wild pigs), unprocessed pig meat, feed or any material or goods from the piggery farms or backyard piggery shall be taken out of or brought into the infected zone and no person shall bring or attempt to bring into the market any pig or pig products which is known to be infected with the scheduled disease,” said the Minister quoting National Action Plan.
Earlier, ASF was found in the areas Bilaspur, Sanauri Adda and Manjal Khurd of district Patiala. The whole state of Punjab had already been declared as "Controlled Area" and a ban on inter-district and inter-state movement of any pig or its belongings had been strictly followed.
Urging the pig farmers to cooperate with the government for preventing the disease, the Minister said that they should not visit other farms, places or districts and should prepare feed for the swine on their farm.
Apart from this, pig traders and their vehicles should also be restricted to visit their farms. This is an incurable and fatal disease which can be prevented only by adopting precautions, he added.