Highlighting menace, farm activists take stray cattle to Ambala DC's office

Ambala, February 14

To highlight the stray cattle menace, farm activists, under the banner of the BKU (Shaheed Bhagat Singh), today reached outside the DC’s office with hundreds of animals in their tractor-trailers.

Invite MLAs to hug the cows

The farmers have brought cattle from across the district and we invite the BJP MLAs and leaders to come and hug the cattle. They can even take the cattle to their respective homes. Tejveer Singh, farmers’ leader

The farmers brought a large number of cattle in tractor-trailers from across the district and gathered near the city grain market. They took out a march, raised anti-government slogans and reached outside the DC’s office with the stray cattle.

Sukhvinder Singh, block-1 chief of the union, said “The farmers are struggling to protect their ‘fasal’ and ‘nasal’. The cattle are not only damaging the crops, but people are losing their lives too, as these cattle have become a cause of accidents. Despite repeated requests, the administration and the government have failed to shift the animals.”

The farmers parked their tractor-trailers carrying the cattle, on the main road near the DC office, where several major offices, police stations and district court are situated.

Farm leader Tejveer Singh said, “When the government is imposing taxes and the BJP obtains votes in the name of cows, why the same cows are being forced to live on roads and eat polythene? We are here to observe ‘cow hug day’…we aim to make Ambala stray cattle-free and later, we will run similar drives in other districts too.”

Later, a delegation of farmers held a meeting with DC Priyanka Soni and lifted their dharna after she gave them the assurance of shifting the cattle to gaushalas.

BKU (SBS) district chief Gurmeet Singh said, “We didn’t want any confrontation with the administration and after meeting the DC, it has been decided to shift the cattle to gaushalas…if the administration fails to fulfil its promises, we’ll be forced to protest.”

The DC said, “The cattle have been shifted to the gaushalas. Also, the BDOs have been directed to make arrangements at the block level as per the government guidelines.”