Punjab cabinet sub-committee for joint action to check stray cattle menace

The Punjab cabinet sub-committee on Thursday called for a collaborative action of all the government departments to grapple with the serious socio-economic threat

The Punjab cabinet sub-committee on Thursday called for a collaborative action of all the government departments to grapple with the serious socio-economic threat posed by stray cattle in the state.

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The sub-committee comprising local bodies minister Brahm Mohindra, animal husbandry minister Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa, health minister Balbir Singh Sidhu and education minister Vijay Inder Singla, which held its first meeting, instructed the animal husbandry secretary to study the best practices adopted by other states of the country to tackle the stray cattle menace and put up workable solution for its consideration.

It also decided make the officials of local bodies and animal husbandry department accountable in the eventuality of any untoward incident pertaining to the stray cattle was reported from any area of the state. It was decided that the official concerned in whose area of jurisdiction it happened would be personally held responsible for it and departmental action would be initiated against him.

The panel also expressed hope that as head of the district administration as well as Animal Welfare Society, the deputy commissioners were better informed about the ground realities and were in a position to evolve localise workable strategy to deal with the stray cattle menace.

At the onset of the meeting, animal husbandry secretary Raj Kamal Chaudhary apprised the committee that at present, every district of the state had one government-run “gaushala” operational under the supervision of District Animal Welfare Society (DAWS). He said there were about 11,000 stray cattle housed in these government-run shelters. Apart from it, there were 418 private “gaushalas” in the state under the management of NGOs and other social and religious organisations and these housed approximately 1 lakh stray cattle.