‘State govt backtracking on cow protection promise’
of cow shelters and saints held agitations at all 33 district headquarters of the state on Tuesday demanding that the BJP government implement its promise of protecting cows.
Hundreds of persons took part in the rallies, held under the banner of the Rajasthan Gauseva Samiti, and handed over memos stating their demands.
The samiti’s general secretary Raghunath Singh Rajpurohit said that the government had promised many things before the elections but after coming to power the chief minister told us she cannot fulfil the promises as the state has no money.
“Stray cattle are becoming a menace, there is encroachment on pasture land, our grants are stuck but the government has not taken any action. The Gopalan directorate has not been given any funds and so has been unable to take any policy decisions,” he said. He said if the promises are not fulfilled in a month, the Gauseva Samiti members will hold a state-level agitation in Jaipur.
Rajasthan is the only state that has a directorate of Gopalan with the aim to conserve the biodiversity
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of cows and promote indigenous cow breeds, breed improvement and value addition of cow products.
The state has around 1.33 crore cattle population, which supplements the income of a large number of families through dairy farming. Some 6.60 lakh cattle are reared in 2,327 gaushalas registered under Rajasthan Gaushala Act 1960.
Bharatpur district president of the Samiti Brahmdev Shashtri said stray bovines and bovines in shelters are dying due to lack of fodder, water and proper treatment as the government has failed to provide them.
He said that the government should save cows from smugglers who transport them to slaughterhouses. The protestors also handed a memorandum to the superintendent of police demanding deployment of quick response teams in Mewat region to control cow smuggling and take legal action against cow smugglers.
President of the Samiti in Barmer, Jethmal Jain said that the BJP government was backing out of its promise to give grants to cow shelters and has put in place strict rules for running such shelters.