Following another death due to stray cattle menace in the city, the BJP and SAD councillors on Friday demanded a special meeting of MCC House to discuss the crucial issue.
In a letter written to city’s Mayor and Municipal Commissioner, BJP and SAD councillors said that the number of deaths and injuries due to stray cattle was increasing day by day in the city and the councillors felt that this was very a serious issue and should be taken on priority. The Councillors demanded that a full proof policy for catching, releasing and shifting of stray animals in Chandigarh should be framed by the MCC and a special meeting of the House should be immediately called to discuss this grievous problem.
Raising questions on the Mayor and Commissioner, the councillors said that they came to know that earlier the policy of Corporation was not to release the cattle and other animals caught by the Municipal Corporation as per the resolution of the previous House and as per the policy explained by Commissioner and Mayor in the F&CC meeting, but now they realised that Corporation has released 132 cattle and other animals on directions of Mayor and Commissioner. The letter was written by Councillors namely Arun Sood, Saurabh Joshi, Harjinder Kaur, Rajesh Kumar Gupta, Satinder Singh, Devesh Moudgil, Rajinder Kaur, Des Raj Gupta, Asha Kumari Jaiswal, Heera Negi and Malkiat Singh.
In last five months, three city residents have succumbed to their injuries after an accident with stray cattle at night in the southern sectors of the city. All the victims were on two-wheelers.
On April 6, 33 years old Harpreet Singh Sodhi was killed when the motorcycle he was riding rammed into stray cattle on the road separating Sectors 49 and 46. 26 years old Avinash Kumar rammed into stray cattle on August 16 near Sector 45 and succumbed to his injuries at GMCH-32 on August 20 morning. Another victim, 42 years old Atma Ram rammed his scooter into stray cattle at Sectors 31/32/46/47 roundabout on the night of August 17 and succumbed to his injuries on August 22 at GMCH-32. Following the death of a city resident on August 20 due to stray cattle menace, Mayor Subhash Chawla had on Wednesday walked out of his office and surrendered the keys of his room and official car. The BJP had condemned the actions of Mayor saying that Mayor’s gimmicks has destroyed.