To strengthen veterinary care services in the district, 11 new operation theatres are to be set up in as many number of government veterinary dispensaries and modern outpatient buildings to be constructed in 21 government veterinary dispensaries shortly at a total outlay of Rs. 3.73 crore.
This apart, repair and minor renovation works will be carried out in 16 veterinary dispensaries under government sector in Udumalpet, Dharapuram and Tirupur divisions.
The Department of Animal Husbandry will be meeting the expenditure for the projects from the different corpuses created by the Central and State Governments for the development of animal husbandry and dairy activities.
Joint Director of Animal Husbandry K.M. Sivaprakasam told The Hindu that the major allocation of funds to the tune of Rs. 2.12 crore would be from Rural Infrastructure Development Fund, a corpus created by the Union Government from the shortfalls in agriculture lending of commercial banks and been kept under the custody of National Bank of Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard).
“The amount will be utilised to create new facilities like operation theatres, medical storage room and treatment sheds for large animals in eight veterinary dispensaries spread across the district,” he said.
A total of Rs 1.16 crore, allocated from Establishment and Strengthening of Veterinary Hospitals and Dispensaries Scheme, will be utilised to set up new buildings which include a doctor’s room, store room for vaccines/medicines and facilities for treating small animals at veterinary dispensaries situated in Samalapuram, Pooluvapatti, K.N. Palayam, Peruntholvu, Vedampatti, Thungavi and four other places.
Places identified
“We have identified places for the construction of new infrastructure for these dispensaries,” Dr. Sivaprakasam said.
For the development of veterinary dispensaries situated at Mudalipalayam, Olapalayam and Kolathupalayam, it has been planned to spend Rs. 45 lakh from the Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana, a Central Government-sponsored scheme, he added.