Union Minister for Women and Child Development and animal rights activist Maneka Gandhi on Tuesday said cattle smuggling is a serious threat to the security of the country and alleged that Odisha is very much ahead in cattle smuggling than most of the States.

The Minister was talking to reporters after addressing a national conference on “Animal and Environmental Welfare” at the National Law University, Odisha here.

“A large number of cattle are going out of Odisha every day to Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal, from where they are being sent to Bangladesh,” she said expressing her deep anguish and alleged that the Odisha Government is doing nothing to stop it. She said the State Government must do something about it seriously because half of this cattle smuggling from the State is allowed to happen by the police themselves.

On the use of formalin in fish as a preservative, Maneka Gandhi said fishes on transit are about three to four days old as they are transported from one State to another or from one district to another after being injected formalin. “The use of formalin in fish is not only dangerous but criminal also,” she said.

Expressing satisfaction over the decision of the Airports Authority of India (AAI) to drop its water aerodrome project in the Chilika lake, the BJP leader said, “Chilika is not only the treasure of Odisha or India, it is a world treasure and it must be kept in its natural state as long as we can because it is truly a natural wonder.