Staff Reporter
Guwahati: The menace of African Swine Fever (ASF) in the state is increasing day by day, with two new epicentres discovered in the Kamrup (M) and Lakhimpur districts. Counting the two new epicentres, the total number of ASF epicentres in the state now comes to nine this year.
According to the Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Department, the locations of the two new epicentres are Jalukbari in the Kamrup (M) district and Kailashpur in the Lakhimpur district. The epicentre in the Lakhimpur district is located at North East Livestock Farm, in the Narayanpur block.
As per the provisions of clause 6 of The Prevention and Control of Infectious and Contagious Diseases in Animals Act 2009 (Act of 2009), restrictions are applicable with immediate effect in all villages within a 1 (one) kilometre radius around the epicentre, designated as "Infected Zone", and all villages falling under the 10 (ten) kilometre radius around the epicentre are designated as "Surveillance Zone". The state Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Department has now imposed restrictions, under the purview of the Act of 2009, in the two epicentres mentioned above.
The imposed restrictions state the following: No live pig or pig feed or pork or pork products shall be allowed to be taken out of or brought into the zone; No carrier of goods or animals shall carry any animals in or out of the infected zone. Carriage of animals (pigs) through roadways or railways through the declared infected zone, however, is allowed provided the animal is not unloaded in any place within the zone till the issuance of a sanitisation certificate by the competent veterinary authority; No person is allowed to take out any pig alive or dead which is infected or suspected to be infected with African Swine Fever (ASF); No person is allowed to carry any pig feed or bedding materials or other materials, namely, carcasses, skin or other parts or products of such animals which have come in contact with any animal infected or suspected to be infected with African Swine Fever (ASF); No person, organisation or institution shall hold any animal market, animal fair or animal exhibition and carry on any activity which involves grouping of pigs within the zone (Provided that the competent veterinary officer may suo moto or on application made to him in this behalf relax the provision in relation to other species of animals other than pigs, if he is satisfied that in the public interest it is necessary to accord such relaxation); and no person shall bring or attempt to bring into the market, fair, exhibition or other congregation or to any public place any pigs which are infected or suspected to be infected with African Swine Fever (ASF).
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