Education in focus: Veterinary university planned for Bahawalpur

Rs2.3 billion approved for Cholistan University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences project

LAHORE:

The government has approved the establishment of Cholistan University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences at Bahawalpur.

University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences Lahore Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Talat Naseer Pasha, the focal person for the Bahawalpur project, said that the project proposal (PC-I) amounting to Rs2.395 billion had been approved by the Provincial Development Working Party (PDWP).

He said that the government had allocated 1,000 acres of land in Bahawalpur for the new university. “The university is being established in collaboration with two Turkish universities: Selcuk University and Ankara University,” Pasha said.

“The new university will have three faculties: bio-sciences, veterinary sciences and animal production and technology. It will have 18 departments and an institute of continuing education and extension.

It will also have teaching and research centers on cattle, beef animals, sheep and goats, camels and poultry. A central disease diagnostic laboratory, 16 departmental laboratories, veterinary teaching hospital, pet and wild animal hospital and computer labs along with library, student teacher centre, seminar rooms, auditorium, sports complex and staff and students’ residential facilities will also be established,” he said.

“The project will be completed in two years. Later, the College of Veterinary Sciences of Islamia University Bahawalpur, will be moved to the new university,” Prof Pasha said.

He said that the livestock sector was a source of livelihood and food security. “This sector has enormous potential for growth. Southern Punjab is one of the major livestock centres of the province. An area of 26,000 square-kilometres in Bahawalpur, Bahawalnagar and Rahimyar Khan districts in the region supports livestock rearing.

The university is being established to exploit the potential of livestock resource of Southern Punjab,” Prof Pasha said.

He said that the university would facilitator the formation of disease-free zones and cater to the needs of allied industries to produce value-added livestock products. “The new university will assist the government in developing policies that will foster a sustainable and prosperous economy and help in enhancing the socio-economic status of the rural population engaged in livestock production in Southern Punjab and resulting in poverty reduction,” he said.

He hoped that the new university would cater to education, research, disease diagnostics and training needs of South Punjab.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 29^th, 2014.