Grappling with the large population of stray bovine species in the State, Haryana Government has now geared up to shift the stray bulls to other States for ploughing purposes.
In a novel way to tackle with the menace of stray bulls roaming on the streets and causing accidents, the State Government has tied up with Maharashtra Government to send stray bulls for its farmers for ploughing and other agricultural operations.
As the usage of bull-drawn plough has come down to a great extent in Haryana with farmers shifting towards tractors, the Manohar lal Khattar Government has decided to send the stray bulls to other States where the farmers are still adopting the traditional methods of ploughing of farms by using iron/wooden ploughs and bulls.
The State Government has already held discussions with Maharashtra Government in this regard and is also planning to team up with government of Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh where the traditional method of ploughing is still adopted.
Chairman of Haryana Gau Seva Ayog had recently visited Maharashtra and held a meeting with officials of the State Government to materialize the proposal.
“The officials of Maharashtra Government had approached us for sending bulls from Haryana to their state for the agricultural purposes. An agreement in this regard would be signed soon,” said Bhani Ram Mangla, chairman of Haryana Gau Seva Ayog while talking to The Pioneer.
He said that the Gau Seva Ayog has asked the Maharashtra Government to send a detailed proposal regarding demand of bulls in their state and then, we will accordingly shift stray bulls from here to their state.
Mangla said that we have prepared an affidavit which would be given to those Maharashtrian farmers, who would use these bulls in their farms.
Through this affidavit, we would ensure that the bulls are used for agricultural purposes only and not beef, said he.
Soon, an agreement for the transportation of stray bulls to Maharashtra would be signed between the two governments. Haryana Government would also held talks with the governments of Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and other states to provide them bulls for agricultural purposes, he added.
As per the 2012 livestock census, there were 1.18-lakh stray cattle – about 85,000 of them in rural areas and the remaining 33,000 in urban areas in Haryana. The number is said to have increased by several fold since then.
The problem of stray cattle was also discussed in the State Assembly recently with the MlAs complaining about how the stray bovines species are not only disrupting flow of traffic but also causing accidents across Haryana. Some MlAs had also complained that farmers are suffering as bulls often go on a rampage and destroy standing crop in their fields.
The State Government has proposed to construct 40 cow sanctuaries in a phased manner to accommodate the stray cattle. These cow sanctuaries will be established over an area of about 50 to 100 acres of land and the cost of civil works, machinery and equipment for one ‘cow sanctuary’ will be around Rs 4.30 crore,
At present, Haryana has a network of 408 gaushalas housing 3,06,490 animals. Of these 392 are registered and 16 are unregistered. There are 3,04,833 animals in registered gaushalas and 1,657 in unregistered ones, as per the official data.