Visakhapatnam: Police help sought to end pig menace
Rearers are blamed for the attack by swines.
Visakhapatnam: With two attacks of stray pigs over a period of ten days, the Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation (GVMC) authorities have been seeking the support of police armed forces for the task of eliminating the pig menace in the city. The municipality has received several and complaints from different zones, especially Old Gajuwaka, Nadupuru, Kurmannapalem, Kommadi and Madhurawada. The recent pig attack on a four-year-old girl at Vambay Colony in Peda Gantyada has raised concerns of the locals.
According to GVMC chief medical officer A. Hemanth, there were only two pig shooters to eradicate the pig menace. The municipality is planning to hire more shooters but the recruitment process is a very difficult task as they need only ex-servicemen who are not interested in such a job. Moreover, there is a severe shortage of professional shooters. Though the existing shooters eliminate around 400 pigs a month, the pig population is growing day-by-day.
More than 1,000 families in the city are dependant on pig farming. Based on a government order, the GVMC officials have done counselling to them for relocating to an isolated place away from human habitats. The state government has earlier proposed to provide skill development to the pig rearers and further support them in finding an alternative earning source. However, the pig rearing community claims that they had not yet received any assistance from the state government.
The community president Vadapallli Appanna said that they are ready to leave this profession if the municipality offers sweeper jobs to our men and women.
There are also few educated ones among them for whom they expect some decent jobs. He said, “We are about to meet the government authorities to seek jobs in the municipality. If they don’t provide any alternative, we should go for begging on the roads. No one in our community would like to do so.”
Contrary to his remarks, a source in the GVMC said, “The pig rearers were not ready to accept the low-paid jobs offered by the government. They don’t want to leave their profession as they are earning good money.” Pig farmers earn roughly Rs 3,000 to Rs 10,000 by selling each pig depending on its weight and breed. Pig rearing is not as cheap a profession as it seems, the sources have informed.