Mahendragarh officials told to shift stray cattle to gaushalas

As per official information, there are more than 3,000 stray cattle in Mahendragarh district, which can be seen squatting and wandering on various roads leading to great inconvenience to commuters and pedestrians.

Dr Vivek Bharti, Deputy Commissioner (DC), has directed officials of the Urban Local Bodies (ULB) and the Panchayat Department to make arrangement for shifting all stray cattle to gaushalas at the earliest.

“The district has 22 registered gaushalas with 18,595 cattle. Eight other unregistered gaushalas are also operating in the district,” said sources.

Fixing responsibility  

“Now it will be the responsibility of the ULBs in the urban areas and panchayat officials in rural areas to shift the stray cattle to gaushalas” Dr Chander Bhan, Deputy Director (Animal Husbandry and Dairying)

Dr Chander Bhan, Deputy Director (Animal Husbandry and Dairying), told The Tribune that as per livestock census conducted in 2019, the district had 4,200 stray cattle. Among them, around 1,200 cattle had already been shifted to various gaushalas, 3000 stray cattle still remained in the district which also needed to be lifted from the roads, he added.

“15 gaushalas in the district have given their consent to provide shelter to all 3,000 stray cattle, now it will be the responsibility of the ULBs in the urban area and panchayat officials in rural areas to shift the stray cattle to gaushalas,” he maintained.

Meanwhile, Deputy Commissioner, Vivek Bharti, said the state government and the Haryana Gau Seva Aayog were focusing on protecting cows. “The officers and cow shelter operators should together find a solution to the issue of stray cattle. Since crops have been sown, it is necessary to send all the stray animals to gaushalas to save the farmers from losses,” he said at a meeting of administrative officials and gaushala operators held in Narnaul on Wednesday. On this occasion, all gaushala operators gave their consent to keep 3,625 cows in their shelters.

Bharti called upon all registered gaushala operators to apply on the portal for an assistance of Rs 7,000 per cattle to provide them shelter. With this amount, more infrastructural facilities could be made available in the gaushalas, he said.

He said that apart from this amount, the Haryana Gau Seva Aayog also gave money for fodder per animal every day. “Rs 20 is given for an animal less than one year of age, Rs 30 for an animal more than one year of age and Rs 40 per day for Nandi,” the DC added.