Amid insufficient efforts from the government in controlling the lumpy skin cattle disease that has affected farmers across the country, the House Speaker on Friday issued a directive to the government to inform Parliament about the steps taken to control the outbreak.

Speaker Dev Raj Ghimire gave a directive following demands from the lawmakers. “Lumpy skin disease has been discussed in the past and in today’s meeting as well. I direct the minister concerned to clarify this matter and inform the House about the attempts being made to prevent the disease from spreading further,” said Ghimire.

Taking special time in the House, opposition lawmakers said the disease has caused great damage to farmers across the country. They demanded that the government send specialists to the villages and arrange for vaccinations. Putting forth his views at the beginning of the Friday meeting, Padam Giri, chief whip of the CPN-UML, accused the government of not working seriously despite the disease turning into an epidemic.

"The disease has caused huge losses to hundreds of thousands of farmers across the country. Yet, the government hasn't woken up," he said. "The farmers have suffered losses of more than Rs37 billion, but the government still hasn't jumped into action to make vaccines available and provide medical treatment."

As per an estimate from the Department of Livestock Services, around 764,000 cattle have been infected while 26,900 have died from the viral disease.

Speaking at the same meeting, Nepali Congress lawmaker Ram Hari Khatiwada said paddy plantation was hit as cattle have died of the disease.

“The situation is worse in the mountainous region,” said Khatiwada. “The fields in the region are barren as oxen have died from the disease.”

Rastriya Prajatantra Party lawmaker Roshan Karki demanded the government inform the House on the action taken to control the infectious disease.

Lumpy skin disease is caused by a virus of the family Poxviridae. It is spread by insects like mosquitoes and ticks that suck blood. Infected cattle get fever and develop lumps on their skin.