Although known for its love for the cow, the Manohar lal Khattar Government in Haryana has failed twice to achieve its ambitious target to make the State stray cattle-free.
After failing to achieve its desired target of making Haryana stray cattle-free by August 15, the BJP-led State Government has failed for the second time to accomplish the same target by September 30.
The new target date is now fixed as October 31, to rehabilitate the abandoned cattle and put an end to the stray cattle menace in Haryana. The State Government has so far declared three districts namely Nuh, Yamunanagar and Fatehabad as stray cattle-free
“We could not achieve previous two targets fixed to make the state stray cattle free. But now, a new target is fixed as October 31 and all the deputy commissioners have been directed to ensure that the target is achieved this time,” said Bhani Ram Mangla, chairman of Haryana Gau Sewa Aayog while talking to The Pioneer.
Contradicting his Government’s claim, he said that Fatehabad is the only district which is 100 per cent stray cattle-free. 80 percent of our work to rehabilitate the stray cattle is complete and we are hopeful to achieve our target by October 31 in the State, said he.
When asked about delay in achieving the set target, Mangla said that the government has made efforts to achieve it and more than 45,000 stray cattle were sent to gaushalas (cow shelters). Besides rehabilitating the stray bovine species, we are also focusing on making the gaushalas self sustainable and economically viable, he added.
Following Government’s drive to rehabilitate the stray cattle, the gaushalas in the State have either filled to capacity or become overcrowded. And, this has increased the problems for gaushalas owners, who were already facing shortage of funds.
Notably, the BJP Government had faced major embarrassment in July following the death of cattle at a Government-run cow shelter at Mathana village in Kurukshetra due to poor infrastructure and lack of fodder.
Continuous rains had reportedly led to water-logging at Mathana village’s cow shelter turning it into death traps for more than 20 cattle who had died due to starvation after being stuck in the swampy land. In the month of May, more than 35 cows were killed and around 50 were injured after a wall at a cow shelter in Rewari’s Jaatusana village had collapsed due to strong winds and rainfall.
As such incidents belied the Government’s exaggerated claims of cow protection in the State, the ruling BJP had drawn flak from various quarters for indulging in “cow politics” and not doing anything for cow welfare.
Meanwhile, talking about State Government’s ongoing project for ear tagging of cattle in gaushalas, Mangla said that the ear tagging exercise have already covered around 3.30 lakh bovine species in about 437 gaushalas of Haryana.
Now, ear tagging of bovine species in private dairies and later, in residential areas will begin in the State, he added.
The State Government has also announced to impose a fine of Rs 5,100 on those who carelessly leave their cows and buffaloes to graze on the streets. Unclaimed cattle will be kept in the gaushalas and the upkeep of such animals would be done using the money recovered as fine or donations in the State.
The maiden BJP Government in Haryana had in 2015 imposed a complete ban on the sale of beef in any form in the state and had also made cow slaughter punishable by up to 10-year imprisonment following the passage of Haryana Gauvansh Sanrakshan and Gausamvardhan Bill 2015, for protection and upkeep of cows.