19 October 2007
Port Louis — 11,000 pigs scheduled for slaughter. An epidemic of African pig plague has forced the authorities to plan the slaughter of 11,000 pigs in the coming days.
After results of analysis made by a South African laboratory arrived in Mauritius, the government realised that the pigs were not suffering from pig fever as it had thought at the beginning. Therefore, the pigs cannot be saved by a vaccine and in all breeding places where only a number of pigs have been infected, will have to be killed. The number of pigs to be slaughtered represents two-thirds of the number of pigs in Mauritius. But the most important is now to get rid of this infection. Breeders have asked for a compensation; a special committee has been set up to examine the issue.
MRA could recover Rs 700 million. The Mauritius Revenue Authority (MRA) is tracking private practitioners. The fact that some doctors practising in private hospitals may have avoided mentioning some of their revenue has led to a loss of earnings of Rs 700 million. The MRA has already searched in hospital computers and some doctors are said to earn about Rs 5 million a year. However, the Private Medical Practitioners Association (PMPA) considers this move as a violation of the privacy of sick people, as the MRA could see their medical files. They even said they would sue the MRA in court. But the tax institution is adamant that it has the power to take such action. The MRA gives these doctors until December to adjust their "debts".
Kamatchi leaves MCIT. Hardly a week after his appointment as head of the Major Crime Investigation Team (MCIT), the superintendent of police Bala Kamatchi has asked for his early retirement. He intended to go on retirement in about two months but he said the job was too complex and delicate at the head of the MCIT. However, rumours seem to point at a denigrating campaign against him within the police force. It is even said that letters have been circulating with allegations against him. Yousouf Soopun is the new head of the MCIT.
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