Stray cattle menace: Minister meets protesters in Mansa

Mansa Even as a dharna by a district-level committee of residents, Awara Pashu Sangharsh Committee, entered its 39th day in Mansa on Monday, Punjab minister for revenue, rehabilitation and disaster management Gurpreet Singh Kangar, some Congress leaders and those from other political parties met members of the committee.

Punjab CM’s son Raninder Singh, who is a general secretary in the state Congress, was among those who addressed around 450 protesters sitting on dharna at the Gurdwara Chowk in Mansa.

The committee protesting against the administration’s failure to find a solution to stray cattle menace that has killed six persons in the district over the past two months.

The committee had submitted a memorandum on September 10 to the Mansa district administration and members have been on indefinite dharna since September 13.

The key demands of the committee are increasing the number of cattle pounds in the district; raising the issue in the Vidhan Sabha and amendments in the cow protection law in the state to ensure stray cattle can be lifted from the streets.

Kangar said, “On the behalf of the government, I have assured members of the committee that fodder will be provided to cattle as a tool to manage the stray menace.”

Raninder assured protesters, “The Punjab government has approved a cattle pound pilot project at Samana and Mansa, which would be operational within 10 days.”