LAHORE: The Livestock and Dairy Development Department (L&DDD) has proposed Rs5.5 billion Annual Development Programme (ADP) 2022-23 with thrust on production enhancement, breed and nutrition improvement, disease prevention and infrastructure improvement.
The proposed Annual Development Programme has allocation for 22 new development and 16 on-going schemes for the year 2022-23. “We have sent the proposed Annual Development Programme to the planning and development department for approval to include it in the next budget,” sources in the Livestock and Dairy Development Department told Business Recorder.
The proposed Annual Development Programme has also a special allocation for development schemes worth over Rs744 million for Southern Punjab. An allocation of Rs2786 million has been proposed for the new schemes while Rs2713 million has been proposed for the ongoing scheme.
Talking about the utilization of development schemes for the current year, the sources said that till date the department had utilized 60 percent of the total development budget for the year 2021-22.
They said utilization rate is slow because the main focus was on buying new vehicles for using those for mobile vaccination and disease prevention units.
However, there was a ban on buying of vehicles under the austerity drive by the previous government. But the department got the permission in the last cabinet meeting of the previous government and the spending would be fast now.
The sources said that the department has turned its focus from disease treatment to disease prevention. For this purpose, vehicles will be customized as mobile vaccination units. He refuted that there was any shortage of medicines in any livestock hospital. He said they have even allocated 30 percent of the total annual medicine stock for the emergency requirements such as to be used in case of floods.
To another query, they said there was no emergency like situation in Punjab as far as Lumpy Skin Disease is concerned. He said we have a contingency plan in place educating the masses there was no threat in using meat of these animals. This disease definitely decreases milk production but neither poses threat to the life of the animal or those using its meat.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022
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