Lahore: An important meeting held in the Livestock Department under the chairmanship of Provincial Minister for Livestock and Agriculture Syed Ashiq Hussain Kirmani, in which the progress on the distribution of livestock card , livestock assets transfer among rural widows and divorced women in South Punjab and the performance of the department was reviewed. Secretary Livestock Punjab Saqib Ali Ateel attended. Provincial Minister for Livestock and Agriculture Syed Ashiq Hussain Kirmani stated on this occasion that the Punjab government under the leadership of Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif is committed to the development of the livestock sector. Livestock farmers who have male calves are being provided with interest-free loans of Rs 27,000 per animal and a total of Rs. 135,000 to Rs. 270,000.

In two years, a maximum of 80,000 livestock farmers will be given 400,000 animals. So far, 12,863 cards have been collected by farmers. He endorsed that no negligence will be tolerated in the timely delivery of livestock cards to farmers. He issued orders to the directors posted in all divisions to personally visit the livestock card delivery centers on a daily basis. Farmers whose cards have reached the centers and are not coming to collect the cards,there is need to contact them. The provincial minister for livestock said that the livestock department will perform its duty to inform the livestock farmers about all the upcoming stages of livestock card tagging, vaccination and insemination so that the livestock farmers did not face any problem in this regard. He warned that there is no place for non-performing officers in the department.

Syed Ashiq Hussain Kirmani highlighted that approximately 11,000 cow/buffalo(heifers) will be distributed to rural women up to the age of 55 in 12 districts of South Punjab in two years. So far, 11,882 applications have been verified by the urban unit, while 412 animals have been distributed to women till now. The Provincial Minister for Livestock explained that a strategy should be formulated immediately to control the foot-and-mouth disease in animals. He directed to further improve the vaccine production capacity to reduce the losses due to foot-and-mouth disease. The meeting was attended by Additional Secretary Livestock Usman Tahir, Director Generals Extension, Production, Research (Livestock), PITB and representatives of the Urban Unit.