Govt orders catching 1.57L stray cattle by Dec end
1,219 new cow protection centres will also be constructed during the said period
LUCKNOW : The Uttar Pradesh government has ordered catching of all around 1.57 lakh stray cattle that, according to a recent survey, are still roaming freely destroying crops and are yet to be sent to cow protection centres.
People aware of the issue said that the government has directed all the district magistrates (DMs) to launch a drive in their districts to catch stray cattle and put them in nearby cow protection centres by December end. For this, the government will also build 1,219 new cow protection centres to accommodate them.
“The orders to catch all the roaming stray cattle by the year end have been issued by both chief secretary Durga Shankar Mishra and additional chief secretary, animal husbandry, Rajnish Dubey,” an official said.
The government orders come after it received the findings of the state-wide survey ordered by it in June this year to determine the actual number cattle vis-à-vis the numbers given in the 20th Livestock Census in 2019.
“Many DMs were disputing the census numbers saying the number of cattle appeared to be lower than what has been reported in the census because of which it was difficult to set targets for catching stray cattle and making cow protection centres for them,” the official said adding “and this prompted the government to order a districtwise survey to find out the actual position.”
The 20th Livestock Census put the total number of cattle in U.P. at 11,84,494. The DMs of 12 districts agreed to the number of cattle in their districts as given in the census but the survey found variance in the number in the remaining 63 districts.
The survey put at the actual number of cattle in the state at 11,13,035 which is less by around 72,000 compared to the 11,84,494 given in the census.
The government claims to have already caught 9,56,173 stray cattle and sent the same to cow protection centres but 1,56,862 are still to be caught. Mahoba, Gonda and Unnao area among the districts having high number of stray cattle. “The number of stray cattle has been found to have gone up in Muzaffarnagar, Saharanpur, Etah, Kasganj, Gautam Budh Nagar, Sitapur and Amethi districts,” another official said.
Now, the government has told DMs to not only catch the remaining stary cattle but has also fixed revised targets for construction of cow protection centres as per the new numbers discovered in the survey.
As per the government orders, a total 1,219 new cow protection centres have to be built in the districts concerned to accommodate the roaming cattle with each such centre having a capacity of 150. In more than a dozen districts, the need to build new cow protection centres has been felt.
MAHOBA, GONDA AND UNNAO AREA AMONG THE DISTRICTS HAVING HIGH NUMBER OF STRAY CATTLE