The Municipal Corporation of Dehradun (MCD) has collected about Rs 75,000 as penalty from the people who came to reclaim their cows from stray cattle shelter (Kanji house) since January. While informing about this, senior veterinary officer of MCD, Dr V Sati stated that there are about 450 stray cattle with MCD at present out of which about 350 are at the Gau Sadan in Selaqui and about 100 are in the Kanji house.
He further mentioned that the productive animals like cows that can produce milk are kept in Kanji house so that their owners can reach them easily as the Gau Sadan is far from the city whereas the unproductive cattle like bulls and old cows are kept at Gau Sadan.
He said,"People mostly arrive immediately in stray cattle shelter to retrieve their cattle. Most arrive within hours whereas some turn up in 10 to 15 days as they fail at times to figure out about the disappearance of their cattle from the roads." He said that a fine of Rs 500 per day is charged to the owners for the total days their cattle stayed under the care of the corporation.
About 77 cows were released in the last six months after collecting about Rs 75,000 in penalty from their owners, informed Sati. Moreover, talking about the staff to take care of stray cattle picked up by the corporation, Sati said that there is a staff of five people in Gau Sadan and 12 people in Kanji house as the productive cattle need more attention and care besides those who are weak or sick.
On the question of the disposal of cattle dung in these places, Sati said that most of the time, some nursery owners take the dung whereas sometimes it remains accumulated in the premises.
Meanwhile, the number of stray cattle roaming on the roads had reduced before the lockdown after the MCD started to pick the cattle off the roads but once again, several cattle can be seen on the roads causing hindrance to traffic. Talking about this issue, Sati stated that the corporation adopted a sympathetic attitude during the lockdown against poor people who could not afford to feed their cattle due to the financial crisis but the capable owners also started to release their cattle to feed on their own.
He said that the corporation is presently issuing notices to dairies that are leaving their cows on roads. Sati also added that people need to be more sympathetic to animals before leaving their old and unproductive cows on the roads.