Admitting that much more was needed to be done on the stray cattle issue, the Yogi Adityanath government informed the UP Vidhan Sabha that all efforts were being made to construct gaushalas and gau ashray centres in almost all districts to keep stray bovines from destroying crops or creating problems for commuters.
The Samajwadi Party, however, staged a walkout, saying that the government was not alive to the problems of the people and was offering only lip service.
The issue was raised during Question Hour on Friday by a SP member, who asked what the government was doing to protect lives and crop from stray cattle.
“The government has sanctioned Rs 284 crore for construction of gaushalas in 171 local bodies in the state,” Parliamentary Affairs Minister Suresh Kumar Khanna informed the House during the Question Hour.
The minister said that the government had provided Rs 30 per day for each animal in state-run gaushalas and every district had been sanctioned Rs 1.20 crore for the upkeep of cow sheds.
Khanna said that as per a survey in urban areas, there were around 27,300 cows in shelter homes. “These are temporary arrangements. The government is trying to fix the problem at the earliest and much more is needed to be done,” he said.
However, Bahujan Samaj Party leader Lalji Verma demanded that the government appoint additional staff to work in gaushalas and not use existing employees in it.
He also raised the issue of deaths of hundreds of cattle in gaushalas but the minister contradicted that the deaths in Prayagraj were due to lightning.
Congress Legislature Party leader Ajay Kumar Lalu said that the government had failed to protect farmers from the menace of stray cattle destroying their crops.
On their part, Samajwadi Party members said that stray bovines were creating more trouble in rural areas and staged a noisy walkout from the House, protesting against not getting a satisfactory reply from the government.