Nodal officers to ensure cows ‘live comfortably’

LUCKNOW: Covid-19 pandemic notwithstanding, the Yogi Adityanath government has rushed a team of 75 officials to the field directing them to take stock of the situation in cow shelters and find out if abandoned cattle are staying comfortably.

They have also been told to report back to the government every three days.

The government has appointed nodal officers one each for every district making it clear that they will also be held accountable along with the officials of the district administration if any lapse is found at any cow shelter.

On July, 25, principal secretary, animal husbandry, Bhuvnesh Kumar issued detailed directions in this regard to the department.

“All the 75 nodal officers reached the districts allotted to them on Tuesday and are already on their job visiting cow shelters and collecting necessary feedback for the government to plan things and act accordingly,” director, animal husbandry, UP Singh said. He said waterlogging around cow shelters due to rains was a major concern these days.

The nodal officers have been asked to make physical verification of number of abandoned cattle in the shelters vis-à-vis their number shown in the records and also see if any cow shelters were overcrowded so that surplus cattle could be transferred to other cow shelters or new shelters could be built. “Currently, more than 5 lakh abandoned cattle are living in around 5,000 cow shelters in the state,” Singh said.

Laying emphasis on the need for safety and protection of the destitute cattle, the government has told the nodal officers to ensure that all such cattle were put into temporary cow shelters in coordination with local bodies. “Provide the numbers of abandoned cattle caught and protected everyday to the headquarters every third day on the given format,” said the government order.

Officers had been asked to make an assessment of the requirement of new shelters in view of the results of latest 19th livestock census.

“Identify land and coordinate with the departments concerned for setting up new cow shelters to accommodate more destitute cattle,” government directions further said.

Besides, the nodal officers had been asked to supervise facilities at and around the existing cow shelters, like a proper approach road, boundary wall/fencing, 100% ear-tagging of cattle, availability of enough fodder and water, proper lighting and general health of call cattle and castration of male ones.

The nodal officers have been directed to file their first report by July 30 and then every third day making it clearing to them that their job is not only to point out shortcomings but also to provide real solutions.

“If there are found any irregularities or shortcoming at any cow shelters even after inspection by them, nodal officers will be held accountable along with the district officials,” said the government order.

The UP government decided set up temporary cow shelters to put abandoned cattle there as a special statewide drive in early January , 2019 after a strict enforcement of ban by it on cattle fares and slaughter of cows led to a sudden spurt in their numbers causing public outcry.