BHUBANESWAR: As it battles the outbreak of Japanese Encephalitis (JE) in Malkangiri district, the State Government has decided to take up construction of pigsties under MGNREGS in a bid to reduce exposure of the animals to the transmission.
The Panchayati Raj Department has already issued instructions to all Collectors in this connection so that the scheme can be taken up with immediate effect. While the move is expected to tackle JE outbreak, it would also help villagers rear the animals in a healthy environment and optimise their earnings.
More than 110 children have fallen victim to JE in Malkangiri district in the last three months. Though the exact cause of death is being still investigated, existing pig population is considered a major risk as these are known to be carriers of the JE virus.
The unhygienic conditions in which pigs are bred and reared in the villages are a major contributory factor for the rise in vector population which, in turn, leads to higher transmission. As isolation of pigs on the outskirts of JE-affected villages after the outbreak and deaths led to a big drop in the livelihood of farmers in Malkangiri, the Fisheries and Animal Resources Development (FARD) Department came up with the idea of constructing pig shelter under MGNREGS on individual land.
This, Commissioner-cum-Secretary of FARD Department Bishnupada Sethi said, would help uninterrupted livelihood support to the rural poor and improvement in health status of pigs which, in turn, would lead to better productivity. The whole endeavour would reduce the spread of vector borne zoonotic disease in the long run.
As part of the scheme, pig shelters over 21 square metre would be taken up with an estimated `50,000 for a small unit of four pigs (three female and one male pig) under the MGNREGS. The scheme will be executed by the panchayat samiti as per norms of the flagship employment generation scheme. The beneficiary has to be a job card holder and selection will be made as per MGNREGS norm.
Sethi sad the scheme will assist the marginalised sections in constructing good quality pigsties for maintaining the animals in a healthy condition and derive higher income from pig farming.