LUCKNOW, Sept. 20 -- Lucknow Municipal Corporation (LMC) has launched the country's first animal birth control (ABC) training centre, opening the application process for veterinarians, para-veterinarians, and animal handlers. LMC animal welfare officer Abhinav Verma said the application process has already begun. Interested candidates can download the application form free of cost from the official LMC website- lmc.up.nic.in. After filling in the prescribed details, candidates must deposit the applicable fee and submit the form to the office of the animal welfare officer. He said that this is the first ABC training centre in the country. LMC has announced that the first batch of the training programme will begin in November. Officials added that the centre will not only benefit professionals from Lucknow but also attract participants from other states, making it a national-level capacity-building initiative. The training centre has been established through a tripartite agreement between the LMC, the Animal Welfare Board of India, and the government of Uttar Pradesh. To ensure quality learning, LMC has roped in Human World for Animals, an organisation contracted to conduct the sessions, the release read. The programme will run for 15 days and include both theoretical and practical training. Officials said that the course fee has been set at Rs 5,000 for veterinarians, Rs 1,500 for para-vets, and Rs 1,000 for animal handlers. After successful completion, participants will receive a certificate of training, which will enable them to contribute more effectively to ABC programmes in their respective regions. LMC officials said the centre's objective is to create a pool of trained professionals who can implement sterilisation and vaccination work more systematically and humanely. The initiative, aimed at strengthening sterilisation programmes under the ABC Rules, 2023, is being seen as a landmark step in addressing rising cases of human-dog conflict across the country, the LMC claimed in a release on Friday....