Gau Gyan Foundation demands strict implementation of laws
Concerned over the nexus between police personnel and cattle mafias resulting in massive illegal transportation of cattle from Odisha, the Gau Gyan Foundation (GGF), a Delhi-based NGO, on Thursday demanded strict implementation of various laws like the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960 and the Motor Vehicle Act to check the practice.
GGF spokesperson Jagpreet luthra at a Press conference here alleged, “During my stay in Odisha for around a year relating to cattle protection work, I experienced that due to the nexus between police, particularly the Baleswar district police, and cattle mafias, hundreds of cattle are being transported to West Bengal through the Seragarh tollgate daily.”
“The east coast of Odisha is one of the heaviest smuggling points for cattle that are transported from Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand and taken to West Bengal and Bangladesh for the purpose of slaughter. I rescued 358 cattle in Kusapullah, Khordha, in October 2013 with the help of the police. But at the Sergarh tollgate where 80 per cent of the vehicular smuggling of cattle happens, no remedial measures by the district administration have taken,” said luthra, alleging that Baleswar SP Awinaas Kumar and Khantapada police station IIC Sankarsan Dalai are personally responsible for facilitating smuggling of at least 20,000 cows, including bulls, calves and bullocks, for the purpose of slaughter recently despite his appeal to the contrary.
“Hence, we demand strict implementation of the Transportation of Animals Rules, 1978, the Orissa Prevention of Cow Slaughter Act, 1960 and the Motor Vehicles Act to stop the illegality, said GGF State in-charge Debasish Patnaik.