Sonowal for coordination with ICAR to contain African Swine Fever 

Guwahati, 4 May:  With hundreds of pigs perishing in Assam because of outbreak of African Swine Fever (ASF) , Assam Chief Minister Sonowal on Monday visited Regional Institute of Livestock Entrepreneurship and Management (RILEM) at  Rani, took stock of the situation and asked the Veterinary and Animal Husbandry Department and Forest Department to work in close coordination with National Pig Research Centre of ICAR to deal with the situation and draw a broad roadmap to bail the state out of the problem.
Sonowal held a meeting with the doctors of ICAR and RILEM and discussed in detail the magnitude of swine fever and strategy of the state to mitigate the problem.
The Chief Minister asked the doctors and other functionaries to ensure total cleanliness and sensitization of the pig habitable areas and use disinfectants. He also said that in the face of absence of any vaccination to deal with the infection, cleanliness, distancing and containment are the golden protocols to fight against the virus.
After the outbreak of the swine fever in Assam, an expert team was constituted taking animal scientists within its fold.
During the meeting Chief Minister Sonowal also asked the Veterinary and Animal Husbandry Department to do a ‘threat-mapping’ and undertake containment measure across the state. He also asked the department to find out the total number of entrepreneurs engaged in piggery sector and their financial liability so that government can take pragmatic  steps to announce bailout package to save the entrepreneurs from penury.
It may be noted that the African Swine Fever an African centric problem was the pig ailment which was first reported in 1921 in Kenya, Ethiopia though the problem is very rare in this part of the country.