The proposal to establish ‘Kanji House’ meant to provide shelter to the stray cattle in the State capital is being delayed since long with the Civic body. With rapid increase in the numbers of stray cattle in the city, it creates nuisance for both traffic police personnel and motorists putting their lives at stake. Moreover, there is no proper mechanism to track these stray cattle with the authorities concerned. Even the cattle are not demarcated with some additional mark to recognise them to which area they belong too.
“Presently, we have not taken any decision on ‘Kanji House’ and the draft is still pending with us. Though, for the time being, we came up with the concept to tie up with the local cowshed owners to keep away the stray cattle from streets and roads but the negotiation too failed. As far as mechanism for tracking stray cattle is concerned, presently we do not have any such device,” informed, Additional Municipal Commissioner, Bidyanand Sharma Pankaj.
Increasing number of stray cattle on the streets of Ranchi has been creating trouble for the commuters since long, leading to numbers of road accidents in the city too. Both motorists as well as individuals find it difficult to walk past the wandering animals during the busy hours of the day.
In November 2012, Ranchi Municipal Corporation (RMC) had decided that a committee would be formed to identify and capture the stray cattle. Nevertheless, no such step has been considered so far on the matter. The RMC’s proposal to keep the city roads free from stray cattle has always remained confined to paper.
“We have written to the Sub Divisional Officer (SDO) several times to conduct raids and shut down the illegal cowsheds operating in the peripherals of the city but nothing has been done yet. The civic body will soon revive Kanji House to arrest the numbers of stray bovines on roads and streets,” said, Deputy Mayor, Sanjeev Vijaywargia.
However, due to the futile exertions of the civic authorities so far on the issue, cattle enjoy a free run on the capital’s streets today. Not even the extensive complaints of traffic chaos caused by roaming cattle have waked the civic authorities to rein in the stray livestock.
As per a court order, a family may keep only one cow for personal use and not operate any commercial cattle shed within city limits. No bovine should be seen roaming inside the city as well. There is a provision of fine too on the owners, if the cattle are found loitering around the roads.