BENGALURU: As part of the National Milk Day celebrations, Animal Quarantine Certification Services was organised in Bengaluru, the Union Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying said on Saturday.
“The Department of Animal Husbandry, Ministry of Fisheries Animal Husbandry and Dairying celebrated National Milk Day on November 26 in Bengaluru. An Animal Quarantine Certification Services was inaugurated as part of the celebrations in Hasserghatta”, the release stated.
The station has been completed recently and was inaugurated by Dr Sanjeev Kumar Balyan, Union Minister of State in Finance, Fisheries and Animal Husbandry, on National Milk Day in the presence of the Secretary, Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Government of India.
The AQCS Bengaluru was initiated in August 2009, and the station has been functioning from the airport satellite office at Alpha 3, Kempegowda International Airport (KIA).
Since its inception, the station has seen a substantial increase in its workload and the movement of livestock and livestock products has increased manifold. However, in the absence of a quarantine facility, the import of live animals like horses, cattle, sheep, goats etc., was not allowed import in Bengaluru, the release stated.
The construction work started in a 10-acre area in Hessarghatta with funding from the Union Ministry of Fisheries Animal Husbandry and Dairying, and has been executed by CPWD, Bengaluru. The station has come up with state-of-the-art buildings and infrastructure.
As per the release, with the ambient climatic conditions of Bengaluru, it is envisaged that the climatic conditions will be most suitable for live animals to be imported and such imported animals will be acclimatised properly at the quarantine station in Hessarghatta.
The station will facilitate regions in the country, especially the southern states, to import and export livestock and livestock products and boost trade. The AQCS will be equipped with an online clearance system for imports of livestock products and livestock in due course and be a gamechanger for the local economy, the release further stated. (ANI)