Yogi government now allows use of CSR funds to provide facilities for abandoned cows in UP

The step comes after the government decided to impose a cow welfare cess and a special fee on beer and Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) to fund construction of cow shelters.

In its latest move for cow protection, the Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh has allowed corporate houses to use corporate social responsibility (CSR) funds to provide facilities for abandoned cows on the land reserved for grazing grounds in rural areas.

The Yogi Aditynath government in Uttar Pradesh has now allowed corporates to spend their CSR funds on facilities for abandoned cows in the state (File Photo) (HT Photo)

The step comes after the government decided to impose a cow welfare cess and a special fee on beer and Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) to fund construction of cow shelters in the state.

Provisions of the Uttar Pradesh Revenue Code 2006 do not allow transfer of grazing ground to any NGO for management. That is why the state government has issued a government order, specifying how the ‘gram sabhas’ could get cooperation from corporate houses and the NGOs to provide facilities for abandoned cows on land reserved for grazing ground in villages.

In the government order sent to all the district magistrates on Friday, principal secretary, revenue, Suresh Chandra said, “Any construction of boundary wall on the grazing ground land cannot be permitted as per rules. Yet, there will be no objection to installation of tube well and construction of ‘charhi’ (feeding point) and plantation of saplings of species of trees used for fodder by the ‘gram sabha’ on such land. There will also be no objection to getting cooperation from the corporate houses through CSR and the NGOs through a contract on proposal from the ‘gram sabha’.”

The government order said cow shelters could be constructed on unreserved land near the grazing grounds.