Chief Minister M.K. Stalin virtually inaugurated the first permanent campus for the government veterinary polyclinic, which was an erstwhile British-era bull station, near the Central Prison in Vellore town on Tuesday, ending the long wait for the premises.
MLA P. Karthikeyan and Collector V.R. Subbulaxmi inspected the new single-storey facility, built at a cost of ₹3 crore with funds from the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD).
“The new campus will be a boon for dairy farmers. It has advanced facilities to treat all animals,” G. Anduvan, Assistant Director, Department of Animal Husbandry (Vellore), told The Hindu. Spread over 33 cents, the new campus has a clinical laboratory, a special diagnosis room, four surgery theatres, a waiting hall, medical instrument stores, a chemical analysis unit, cabins for veterinary inspectors, doctors and other staff, and a vaccination room, among others. It will function round-the-clock on all days with at least three doctors and eight attendants.So far, the clinic has been functioning from a dilapidated facility near the Vellore fort on a 5.33-acre plot. Milch cows, bulls, dogs, and horses are among the animals treated at the facility every day. Barring Sundays, it used to function on all the other days between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m.
The polyclinic was once a bull station for villages in the northern Tamil Nadu in 1907, when it was started by the British to breed quality bulls for farming to improve agricultural productivity. After over 50 years, the station was upgraded into a district veterinary hospital in 1958-59.
Vellore Mayor Sujatha Anandakumar, Corporation Commissioner P. Janaki Raveendran and M. Gopi Krishnan, joint director (In-charge), Department of Animal Husbandry, were present during the inspection.
Mr. Stalin also virtually opened government veterinary pharmacies in Thellur, Thatchur, Moranam, Gill Nagar, Vembakkam farming villages that come under Arani and Cheyyar taluks in Tiruvannamalai.
Published - August 21, 2024 12:06 am IST
