DHAKA: The government Tuesday formed a 25-member National Steering Committee for controlling the anthrax hullabaloo before Eid-ul-Azha, as the dread of the cattle disease—sometimes stoked up by hoax—put the meat trade on a shambles.

In order to meet the exigencies head-on, the high-powered combat panel was formed in an inter-ministerial meeting held at Fisheries and Livestock Ministry.

Apart from the steering committee, a five-member technical committee and district, upazila and union-level bodies were constituted for a nationwide drive to clear the mist and combat the scourge, if found any anywhere.     

Fisheries and Livestock Minister Abdul Latif Biswas informed journalists about the steps after emerging from the meeting in the afternoon.

Requesting people not to panic, the minister said, “It has been made mandatory to vaccinate every cow, goat, buffalo and sheep in 18 upazilas of eight districts where anthrax spread.

He informed some 25 hundred thousand vaccines are needed in the affected districts, and 19 hundred thousand vaccines have already been dispatched to the field level.

Moreover, cattle-heads are being carried into the country from across the border after conducting health test, the minister said about the quarantine measure.

BDST: 1334 HRS, SEPT 21, 2010