The State Forest Department will train Animal Husbandry Department veterinarians in wildlife treatment management and guidelines will be drafted as part of a policy measure to prevent cruelty towards animals on the Char Dham Yatra circuit bridle paths. Provision will also be made for state assistance for construction of Gau Sadan (cow shelters) and tending to the bovines. These were among the decisions taken in the meeting of the State Animal Welfare Board of Uttarakhand chaired by the state animal husbandry minister Pritam Singh Panwar.
It was stated in the meeting that in the current financial year, total `24.36 lakh had been approved as assistance for feeding and sheltering of cows in 22 Gau Sadan units with `7.64 lakh for construction of cowshed in one Gau Sadan.
Additionally, it was also recommended that `8 lakh be facilitated as state grant for the setting up of gobar-gas power generation plant.
Panwar directed that additional budgetary demand for `50 lakh for Gau Sadan under the state assistance head should be presented. This was be advocated strongly at the administration level, it was stated.
In order to make the district level Society for Prevention of Cruelty towards Animals (SPCA) active, a sum of `1.90 lakh under the Uttarakhand cow and its progeny protection fund and `2.60 lakh from the Uttarakhand animal welfare board was approved. The minister further instructed officials concerned to submit a proposal for making necessary amendments in the Uttarakhand Protection of Cow and its Progeny Act, 2007 rules to enable the setting up of a forensic laboratory. It was also decided in the meeting that the Union Government will be requested again to provide the central share as per the tripartite agreement reached upon for executing animal birth control (ABC) in three of the urban local bodies in the state for controlling the stray dog population. Further, it was also decided that workshops will be organised in the future aimed at establishing coordination and sensitisation involving the police department, animal husbandry department and the animal welfare organisations. The district SPCA members proposed provision of free of cost departmental veterinary treatment facilities for the stray animals. It was also decided that the state will submit its suggestions to the central government regarding the new animal welfare bill proposed by AWBI. The State authorities will also submit their suggestions to the government of India for annulment of those regulations and provisions made in the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960 which have not remained relevant in the present times. The Dehradun district magistrate and divisional forest officer were directed to conduct a joint inspection for demarcation of the land Hariom Ashram Kadvapani Gau Sadan. Additionally, the urban development and Panchayati Raj department officials were also directed to re-establish existing stray cattle shelters and removal of encroachments from these sites. Additional chief secretary Ranvir Singh, urban development director Nitin Singh Bhadauriya and others were among those present in the meeting.