Nagpur :- Hon’ble Minister of Forests, Cultural affairs and Fisheries, Sudhir Mungantiwar launched the One Health Consortium Project as the Chief Guest at the Wildlife Research & Training Centre, Gorewada, Nagpur on 31st October 2022. A documentary prepared on this occasion was released by him. Col (Dr.) Prof. Ashish Paturkar, Vice-Chancellor, MAFSU chaired the function. Member of Parliament, Sunil Mendhe also graced the function. YLP Rao, Head of Forest Force and Principal Chief Conservator of Forest, Vikas Gupta, Managing Director, FDCM Ltd, Maheep Gupta, PCCF (Wildlife) and Chief Wildlife Warden of Maharashtra, R.M Naikade, Chief Conservator of Forests, Dr. Nitin Kurkure, Director of Research, MAFSU, Nagpur were also present. The Minister also released two technical information brochures prepared by WRTC related to Man-animal conflicts and sampling for wildlife forensics. He also launched the official accounts of Facebook, Twitter and Instagram of WRTC. Dr. Shirish Upadhye, Director of Instructions and Dean, Faculty of Veterinary Science in his introductory remarks informed the mandates and various activities of WRTC and that the WRTC and Gorewada Project are establishing themselves as the lead centre in the area of wildlife health research. Vice-Chancellor, MAFSU, Col. (Dr.) Prof. A.M. Paturkar in his presidential speech elaborated the efforts taken by the WRTC and MAFSU in wildlife health management and expected that the WRTC should work more in the areas of wildlife forensics for the betterment of conservation. YLP Rao in his address narrated the activities and new assignments taken up by the Forest department for conservation. 
Dr. Arun Kumar Rawat, Consultant, DBT-NIAB One Health Project, New Delhi congratulated the Minister for the efforts to facilitate research in wildlife through novel initiatives like the one health project. He expressed that the One Health Project is a very ambitious project having 27 Centres across the country involving 18 Veterinary related, 8 human health related institutes and WRTC is the only centre in the country, that would work for the wildlife component and therefore WRTC would be a major role player in this project. The WRTC has been identified as wildlife component centre under the ‘Establishment of Consortium for One Health to address Zoonotic and transboundary diseases in India, including the Northeast region’ funded by Department of Biotechnology, Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of India. The project is first of its kind creating a network of 27 centres across the country that will simultaneously investigate the prevalence of 10 diseases of zoonotic importance and 6 transboundary diseases in humans, domestic animals and wild animals. The data generated in the project will have implications in public health and policy formulation. Currently, the information available on wildlife diseases is sparse and need for detailed investigation in the area is greatly felt. Under the project following zoonotic diseases will be investigated, Brucellosis, Tuberculosis, Coxiellosis, Cryptosporidiosis, Cysticercosis, Japanese Encephalitis, Leptospirosis, Scrub Typhus, Toxoplasmosis, Listeriosis. The project will also investigate transboundary diseases of significance including the Avian Influenza, African Swine Fever, Classical Swine Fever, Porcine Respiratory and Reproductive Syndrome (PRRS), Porcine Epidemic Diarrhoea, Transmissible Gastroenteritis. The project outcomes will definitely be valuable in terms of policy formulation and public health initiatives.
Speaking on the occasion Hon’ble Minister of Forests, Cultural Affairs and Fisheries expressed satisfaction over the inclusion of WRTC in this initiative of DBT. He insisted on the need to strengthen meritorious institutions like WRTC through strengthening of infrastructure, man power and facilities. He assured support to MAFSU and WRTC to strengthen research in wildlife.
Office bearers of MAFSU and Department of Forest were present during the launching ceremony. Shri Shatanik Bhagwat, DM Gorewada, Dr. Vinod Dhoot and Dr. Ajay Gawande, Deputy Directors of WRTC, Dr. Bhagyashri Bhadane, Dr. Mayur Pawshe, Dr. Sujit Kolangath, Subject Matter Specialists, H.V. Madbhushi, ACF, Nilay Bhoge, RFO, Gorewada exerted for successful organization of the programme.
