Cow shed, GPS trackers for cattle proposed at IIT-Bombay. This is why

In July, two rampaging bulls knocked down an intern from Kerala, injuring him. A few days later, a stray cow entered a classroom and disrupted proceedings.

A shed and GPS trackers for cows are a couple of solutions a six-member committee at the Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay (IIT-B) has come up with to tackle the human-cattle conflict on the campus in Powai.

File photo of IIT Bombay.(Satish Bate/HT Photo)

In July, two rampaging bulls knocked down an intern from Kerala, injuring him. A few days later, a stray cow entered a classroom and disrupted proceedings.

According to a recent report by Insight, the institute’s student magazine, the committee proposed to survey all cattle present on campus and rehabilitate them in a cowshed in the boathouse area. “A large piece of land behind hostel 8, which is the boathouse area, will be for cattle, where they’ll be provided with food and water,” read the report.

The committee, headed by Dean of Student Affairs Tapanendu Kundu, has also proposed to tag cattle with GPS trackers.

The trackers will help security personnel track the movement of cattle on campus and prevent them from entering residential and academic areas.

Kundu told Hindustan Times: “The proposals are only at the initial stage and final decisions are yet to be taken. We will present them to the director. Only then will a decision be taken.”

The cowshed will be built with the institute’s money, but will be turned into a self-sustaining model, said Kundu.

To make the shed self-sustaining, the institute may commercialise cattle products such as milk, urine, and cow dung. While milk will be supplied on the campus, urine will be sold to manufacturers of Ayurvedic medicines. Cow dung will be processed for biogas synthesis, the committee proposed.

The committee also proposed to appoint caretakers for a short period of time to make the cows comfortable in their new home.