UP: Officials miss Jan 10 deadline to relocate stray cattle

Officials in Uttar Pradesh are yet to complete the relocation of stray cattle to shelter homes, even as the deadline set by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath for shifting the bovines to proper facilities ended January 10. On January 3, the chief minister had given district magistrates about a week to ensure stray cattle across Uttar Pradesh are shifted to cow shelters with fences and veterinary care. He had issued the direction during a video-conference with the DMs, amid reports that stray cattle were destroying crops. Farmers in some parts of Uttar Pradesh had reportedly herded stray cattle into places like government schools to save their crops.

"Work is going on at all the places on war footing. All the district magistrates (DMs) are adopting innovative ways and means as per their local needs to implement the policy," a senior official of the state animal husbandry department told PTI.

He added that some of the innovative models that the department has come across are from Lalitpur, Etawah and Firozabad districts.