Staff Reporter
SHILLONG:
Deputy Chief Minister Prestone Tynsong on September 3 said that the government will inquire into the recovery of nine dead piglets from inside a drain in Mawdiangdiang just a few hundred meters away from North Eastern Indira Gandhi Regional Institute of Health and Medical Sciences (NEIGRIHMS).
“We don’t know if these piglets were dumped but we have done ear-tagging of the animals and there is a control room monitoring them. If you sell them also we will find out. If these are dead also, we will know,” he said.
Tynsong said that he will take up the issue with the department of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary.
He said that piglets being distributed by the government are of Hampshire breed brought from West Bengal.
When asked if the government will direct the authorities to perform tests on these piglets to find out if these animals had any diseases, Tynsong said that they have been isolated after they were brought to the state.
“There are standard operating procedures. After they are brought into the state they are isolated, they are vaccinated and provided medicines and after 10-12 days they are given to the beneficiaries,” Tynsong said.
There are two isolation centres – one at Upper Shillong, East Khasi Hills district and another at Kyrdem Kulai, Ri Bhoi district.
He informed that the government will distribute piglets to the pig farmers identified by the government in all the blocks of the state to augment their livelihood.
Tynsong informed that in the first phase the government is targeting 16000 beneficiaries all over the state with 400-500 in each block.