Villagers lock stray cattle for destroying their crops

GREATER NOIDA: Irate villagers on Sunday locked up at least 80 cows and bulls inside a government primary school at Mahawad village in Badalpur of Greater Noida, alleging lack of action by authorities after pleas to stop stray cattle from destroying their crops.

“The problem of stray cattle destroying crops in our village has persisted since the last three to four years. Farmers have suffered a great loss due to this. We cannot harm the animals so the villagers decided to move the cattle inside the school, as officials did not listen to us,” Pramod Sharma, village head of Mahawad village, said.

The move comes after Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath recently asked state chief secretary Anup Chandra Pandey to set up a committee to consider measures for providing better shelter facilities for destitute cows across the state.

Even the authorities of the Luksar jail in Greater Noida have received directions to open a cow shelter where the inmates would look after the animals.

In a similar incident on January 7, 2019, angry villagers had locked up over 100 stray cattle inside a government primary school in Bhadivar village of Prayagraj district, which forced students to attend classes out in the open since the school premises were occupied by the bovines.Meanwhile, farmers in Mahawad village said that whatever they grow in their fields get consumed by the stray cattle. The village has a population of over 5,000 and the major occupation is farming.

“We sow seeds and saplings worth at least ₹50,000 per acre but all that is destroyed by the stray cattle which enter our fields both during day and night hours. Often, people from other villages bring these destitute bulls in trucks and dump them in our village. We grow wheat, radish and jowar in our fields but we all suffer losses,” Anil Kumar, a farmer from the village, said.

Vikas Kumar, senior manager of Greater Noida Authority’s health department, said that Mahawad village does not come under their jurisdiction.

“The Greater Noida Authority works in 122 villages which do not have the system of pradhan (village head). Since Mahawad has a pradhan, it falls under the domain of the administration,” Kumar said.

The locked up cattle were set free in the around 4pm when the police and administration officials reached the spot.

“We spoke to the villagers and convinced them to free the stray cattle. A few representatives of private cow shelters in Greater Noida also came forward to volunteer,” Nagendra Chaubey, station house officer, Badalpur police station, said.

District magistrate BN Singh said adequate measures will be taken in the matter to see that stray animals do not destroy farmers’ crops.

“After being released, the cattle have been sent to a cow shelter in Dadri for now for them to be looked after. The issue will be looked into,” the DM said.