RAHIM YAR KHAN: Livestock owners in the district have been facing difficulties due to the lack of veterinary facilities and dilapidated buildings of the District Livestock Department (DLD).

According to the DLD record, there were 707,050 cows, 679,100 buffaloes, 1,104,808 goats and 97,692 sheep in the district. Besides these, a large number of camels were in the Cholistan region, whereas many villagers also owned horses, donkeys and poultry. Whereas, the district had a total of 58 livestock health facilities, including those in the district headquarters, tehsil headquarters, small towns and large villages.

Out of these, there were 27 civil veterinary hospitals (CVHs) and 31 civil veterinary dispensaries (CVDs).

According to DLD sources, half of these CVHs and CVDs were in dilapidated condition and the DLD staff were unable to perform their duties to facilitate livestock owners.

Meanwhile, the total sanctioned posts of veterinary officers were 32 with eight senior veterinary officers and four additional prin-cipal veterinary officers.

Similarly, there were four deputy directors each in the four tehsils with 31 artificial insemination technicians and 163 vaccinators.

Talking to Dawn, Muhammad Bilal, a resident of Chak 52-P said that he had to get services of a private veterinarian for treatment of his cattle. He said that although there was a veterinary dispensary in his village but medicines were notavailable there.

Another villager of Bagho Bahar Area, Waqas Latif, said that a veterinary hospital in his area often remained closed and if it opened, only a peon was present to deal with the visitors. He said that livestock owners avoided the facility because neither a veterinary officer nor medicines were available there.

Another cattle owner of village I-L canal along the CholistanJam Nagar Tanwri said that mostcattle owners migrated to villages near canals in the summer season because of the availability of water. In these areas, he said, they were facilitated by veterinary dispensaries to some extent, but in the meadows of Cholistan they faced difficulties.

He, however, complained that DLD officials never provided guidelines on how to preserve and market the milk and meat of their livestock. He said that hundreds of tons of milk and meat could be produced on a daily basis from Cholistan with proper planning.

Rahim Yar Khan Livestock Deputy Director Dr Tahir Gulzar claimed that the DLD was facilitating livestock owners actively and responsibly. He said the construction, started three years ago, of 15 new CVH buildings in the district were near completion. In June, when these buildings would be furnish, the staff recruitment process would begin, he added. He said that four mobile veterinary dispensaries (MVDs) were also facilitating cattle owners in remote villages of Cholistan in case of an outbreak. However, he confirmed that 31 buildings of CVHs and CVDs were in dilapidated condition in the district.