Soon, ambulance service for cows in Jharkhand
RANCHI: THE VEHICLES WILL BE FITTED WITH A HYDRAULIC LIFTING MACHINE AND EQUIPPED WITH FIRSTAID FACILITY AND A VETERINARIAN
Jharkhand is all set to roll out ambulance service for cows to facilitate the transportation of ill or injured bovines to hospitals and gaushalas.
“This will be an ultra-modern ambulance equipped with firstaid facility and have a veterinarian,” said animal husbandry director Vijoy Kumar Singh, adding that the proposal to purchase 10 such ambulances for the first phase was approved by the state animal welfare board. Two ambulances will be deployed in each of the five administrative divisions of Jharkhand. A tollfree number will also be released for people to report about cows in distress.
“We face a big problem while transporting injured cows to the veterinary hospital. The problem will be sorted out with the ambulance,” Singh said. He added that the vehicle would be fitted with a hydraulic machine, which would help lift the injured cow and ferry it safely to the veterinary hospital. The lifting capacity of the equipment will be up to 500kg.
“Tender for purchasing the ambulance, which will cost around ₹15 lakh, will be issued soon,” he said. The department is contemplating deputing at least one ambulance in each of the 24 districts of Jharkhand by using MPLAD funds.
In 2015, a Jharkhand-based industrialist-cum-social worker, RK Agarwal, had donated 10 ambulances for cows to gaushalas at Jamshedpur, Chakulia, Chaibasa, Ranchi, Dhanbad, Deoghar, Koderma, Hazaribagh, Katras and Madhupur.
After the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came to power in 2014, hordes of schemes to benefit bovines were launched in the state. Jharkhand has already tagged 70,000 cows with Aadhaarlike 12-digit numbers and the process to prepare health cards for 15 lakh cows in the state has also been initiated.
Jharkhand remains a hub for trafficking of cows. Sources in the animal husbandry department said on an average, 500 cows are rescued from smugglers every month in Jharkhand.
The tribal state doesn’t have any government-owned cow shelters to keep the rescued animals. There are 27 gaushalas across Jharkhand, but only 18 of them are registered with the government. These gaushalas face a daunting task of feeding rescued cows. However, the welfare board on March 6 approved the proposal of setting up seven shelters for rescued bovines.
Of the seven, two shelters will be started by the next financial year 2018-19. Land for all seven shelters have already been identified at Hazaribag, Dumka, Deoghar, Jamshedpur, Lohardaga and Koderma. Each shelter will have capacity to house more than 200 cows with all basic facilities.
Food activist Balram said, “Facilities for cows are improving while humans are waiting for their luck. In Jharkhand, the doctor-patient ratio is low, there is only one hospital for one lakh population and the 108 emergency ambulance service, which was started November 15 last year, is yet to be functional in every part of the state.”