Four days Training on Management of Animals in Emergencies Completed at BASU
Bihar Animal Sciences University organized four days training on “Management of Animals in Emergencies” from 4-7th June, 2018.
The training programme was inaugurated by lightening the lamp by Chief Guest Sri Dinesh Chandra Yadav, Hon’ble Minister, Disaster Management, Bihar, Dr. Rameshwar Singh, Hon’ble Vice-Chancellor, BASU and other guests and dignitaries at Conference Hall of BVC on 04.06.2018.
The inaugural session was graced by Several Dignitaries like Sri Vyas Ji, Vice Chairman, Bihar State Disaster Management Authority, Govt. of Bihar, Sri K. M. Singh, Former Member, National Disaster Management Authority, New Delhi, Smt. Madhurani Thakur, Additional Secretary, Department of Animal & Fisheries Resources, Govt. of Bihar, Sri P. N. Rai Member, Bihar State Disaster Management Authority, Govt. of Bihar, Sri Gajender Sharma, Country Director, World Animal Protection, India. Dr.Rameshwar Singh Hon’ble Vice-Chancellor, BASU, Patna preside over the function.
Hon’ble Vice-Chancellor in his opening remark welcomed all the guests and said that Bihar is very much prone to disaster and almost every year there is occurrence of flood and draught in the state. 28 districts of the state are prone to flood. At the time of disaster along with human beings huge number of livestock is also affected. Majority of rural population is dependent on livestock for their livelihood. At the time of flood livestock owners refuses to flee without their livestock. Based on the past experiences, Bihar Animal Sciences University, Patna has set to train the state veterinarians to rescue the animals during emergencies. Training to veterinarians has been provided on several topics earlier but this is first time we are going to train vets for rescue animals during disaster, he added. Bihar Veterinary College Patna is pioneer in starting Veterinary Emergency Response Unit in India. First VERU was setup in the year 2009 in BVC campus and following the Bihar model now five other states has also established veterinary emergency response unit in their veterinary colleges. He thanked the Disaster Management Minister for being chief guest of the programme.
Sri Madhurani Thakur also addressed the session and said training to vets is compulsory to rescue the animals at the time of emergencies. Dr. S. Samantaray, Dean BVC also addressed the session and thanked the department of Animal and Fishery Resources, Govt. of Bihar, Bihar State Disaster Management Authority, World Animal Protection for working collectively for this novel and vital work.
Sri Vyas Ji, Vice-Chairman of Bihar State Disaster Management Authority said that livestock is important for economy of our state. Veterinarians should take responsibility to rescue and treatment of disaster affected animals. He reported that in the last year there was occurrence of flood in several districts of North Bihar and rescue for animals was done by providing facility of ship to carry animals and feed and fodders were supplied for affected animals.
Sri Dinesh Chandra Yadav, Hon’ble Minister, Disaster Management department said that protecting animals is our moral and social responsibility. Animals can’t say their feelings therefore task becomes challenging for veterinarians. He reported that Govt. of Bihar is committed to help the disaster affected population and animals and they are given top priority at the time of disaster and post disaster. This time we are all set to defend the flood during monsoon season and several preparations has been made to tackle the disaster, he added.
Sri Gajendra Sharma, country director of World Animal Protection said after the Kosi flood in 2008, several steps has been taken to rescue animals in the state. We lost almost one lakh animals in that disaster. He told that if one disaster is not tackled properly that will lead to another disaster.
Sir K. M. Singh , Ex-Member, NDMA said that in the Disaster Management Act 2005 there was no provision for rescue of animals but due to sincere efforts of Sri Vyas Ji, in the Disaster Management Act of 2015, there was separate provision for rescue of animals during disaster. He praised the relief work done by NDRF and SDRF in 2017 flood of Bihar.
The training programme commenced in the after lunch session. A total of 35 veterinary officers from flood affected districts of Bihar participated in the training. In the valedictory session held on 07th June 2018 the Training coordinator Dr. Pankaj Kumar said that the training was provided to vets on the pre-fixed schedule prepared by BSDMA and World Animal Protection. This is starting only and we have a series of trainings of Disaster Management for field veterinarians he added. Co-Training Coordinator, Dr. Saroj Kumar Rajak also addressed the valedictory session and thanked all the participants for their cooperation during training programme. In the feedback, participants praised the training programme and said it was very informative and relevant. They demanded a longer duration for training. Dr. Kumud Ranjan, In-Charge Training, Department of Animal Husbandry, Govt. of Bihar addressed the participants and congratulated them for being trained on Disaster Management. He said a total of 1000 vets are to be trained in 8 batches. The valedictory session was chaired by Dr. S. R.P. Sinha, University Professor & DSW, Bihar Veterinary College, Patna. He said participants should be trained regularly so that they can respond adequately at the time of disaster. The certificates were distributed to all the successful participants and the programme ended with vote of thanks.
Disaster Management Handbook
