754 cows die in Jalore due to rain and shortage of fodder
TRAGEDY Another 2,800 at Godham Pathmeda gaushalas are weak and critical
:Incessant rain in Rajasthan has claimed the lives of over 754 cows in Jalore district.
Another 2,800 cows at Godham Pathmeda gaushalas are extremely weak and their health is critical, said Govind Ballabh, the conservator of one of the gaushalas. Continuous rain for last four days has weakened the cows.
Ballabh said that the 18 shelters have about 39,000 cows and calves. The main shelter in Pathmeda village is said to be one of the biggest in the country with some 10,500 cows.
“It rained for 3-4 days because of which the cows became extremely weak and sat down on the ground. In such cases, they can’t get up on their own and have to be lifted up and tended to. Their fodder had also gone bad because of the rain,” the conservator said. Most cows died because of weakness and starvation, he added.
Apart from the cows in critical condition, rains have weakened about 12,000 cows in the gaushalas.
“All the gaushala employees are trying to rescue the injured cows. Some 100 volunteers from nearby areas too have come with fodder and medicines,” said Ballabh.
Nearly 30 cows had been swept away when a dam in Panchla had broken banks, while an equal number died after sinking into the slush, Ballabh said.
“When we got the news of the dam breaking, we moved the cows to a higher ground but the nature of the cow is such that it always goes back to its barn,” he said. District collector Laxmi Narayan Sharma on Thursday claimed that sufficient medication and veterinarians had been deployed for the cows.
Meanwhile, former chief minister Ashok Gehlot addressed the issue of cow deaths in Jalore on Twitter and slammed the state government for being “only a mute spectator so far”.
He also urged the central government to take immediate note of the situation.