Punjab Gears Up for Comprehensive Digital Livestock Census

Punjab's Animal Husbandry Minister, Gurmeet Singh Khuddian, announced on Wednesday the commencement of a comprehensive livestock census in the state starting September.

Khuddian, while chairing a review meeting, highlighted that this marks the second digital census since 2019, cataloging livestock by breed and characteristics.

This will also be the first time pet dogs, cats, and cattle in 'gaushalas', as well as animals reared by nomadic tribes, will be separately counted.

The minister detailed the deployment of a robust team for the survey, which includes one-state nodal officer, five zonal nodal officers, 23 district nodal officers, 392 supervisors, and 1,962 enumerators.

Enumerators are set to visit each household to record the number and type of animals. Joint Secretary of Animal Husbandry, Bikramjit Singh Shergill, assured the minister that officer training for the census would be completed by August.

(With inputs from agencies.)