LAHORE:The University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences (UVAS) Lahore on Saturday arranged an acknowledgement ceremony in the honour of flood relief volunteer teams who performed their duties day and night in the flood-hit areas.
Former Punjab governor Lt Gen (retd) Khalid Maqbool presided over the ceremony and distributed appreciation certificates among UVAS flood relief volunteer teams and various committee conveners and members. He also presented souvenirs among the donors who donated cash and kind for the noble cause.
Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Nasim Ahmad, former UVAS Vice-Chancellors including Prof Dr Manzoor Qureshi, Prof Dr Muhammad Nawaz, Prof Dr Talat Naseer Pasha, officials from Livestock department and others were present.
Addressing the audience, Khalid Maqbool said that this year due to destruction by flash floods, the livestock farming community was facing economic losses. He acknowledged the role of UVAS students, faculty members and administration in fund raising and distribution of relief items among the flood-hit people with transparent manner.
He urged students to learn about innovative skills and best practices related to veterinary profession to compete with developed countries graduates. He said it was direly needed to provide maximum opportunities of entrepreneurs to young graduates for their better future.
He said that a large number of stakeholders, students, researchers and farmers not only from Punjab but also from all over the Pakistan getting maximum benefits from UVAS through its quality education and research. He said UVAS always play a lead role for the uplift of livestock sector and contributing in national economy of Pakistan.
Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Nasim Ahmad said that UVAS launched a flood relief campaign with the mission ‘Save Livestock, Save Communities’. He added UVAS in collaboration with local livestock department officials conducted a survey of flood-affected areas to see the real extent of damages and the relief needs and used GPS technology for this purpose. He mentioned UVAS organized national and international donor conferences, arranged relief camps and collected donations worth Rs 25 million in cash and kind.
He said UVAS sent nine volunteer teams to flood hit areas in all the four provinces to provide veterinary services, basic medicines, vaccines, feed, etc, to the stranded livestock apart from the provision of items of basic needs and ration to affected people.