Farmers demand veterinary dispensary in Ranipet

Farmers in the Walajapet panchayat union area are pinning their hopes on Ranipet district’s first collector S Divyadarshini to get them a local veterinary dispensary as government veterinary facility refuses to accept or treat their animals citing territorial integrity.

Sources revealed that there are nearly 5,000 livestock in the region and when a sick animal requires medical attention, but the government veterinary dispensary is not attending to them and transporting the sick animal is becoming an ordeal.

The issue came to light when a cow belonging to a Palleri village farmer in Walajapet panchayat union was unable to get up and walk two days ago.

TN Farmers Association, Ranipet district president K Raja said, “We are not welcome at the Ponnai Government Veterinary Hospital which is 8 kilometres from Palleri village, as they say our village does not fall within their operational area. We are then directed to take our livestock to Melpadi, instead. Even though Melpadi is 4 kilometres away, it is on the other side of the Palar river, which creates problems to the sick animal. However, the vet doctors at Melpadi told us to approach the vet dispensary at Sikkarajapuram, which is 15 kilometres away from Palleri. How is a farmer supposed to make a sick animal walk 15 kilometres?”

Hence, the demand for a local veterinary dispensary has been raised six years ago when Walajapet was part of Vellore district, but to no avail. However, the farmers hope that their dreams will be fulfilled now as Ranipet has become a separate district.

Farmers who interacted with this reporter said that an ideal location to set up the dispensary would be the Ponnai Vasur village as it is central to nearly 15 villages in the area including Mandakam, Kondakuppam, Annanagar, Chinna Palleri, Nadu Palleri and Periya Palleri, Kodiyur, Kannigapuram and Vasur villages.

Asked how they managed over the years with sick animals when government vet facilities refused to treat them, Kanagaraj a farmer said, “We have the phone numbers of private vets whom we call during emergencies, but the problem is that we have to pay them house visit charges (fuel charges) in addition to regular fees which sometimes can be quite steep. Hence, we resort to them only when in dire need.”