Catch stray animals and auction them to end menace, Bihar CM tells officials

The CM also asked the officials to make good use of impounded animals by selling their milk, cowdung and urines. The same arrangement should be made in other districts of the state.

Chief minister Nitish Kumar on Saturday asked the Patna municipal corporation (PMC) to catch stray bovines and sell them to highest bidders through auction if they were found loitering around the state capital even after imposition of penalty on owners.

Chief minister Nitish Kumar, deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi with others at a meeting to review functioning of different departments, in Patna on Saturday (AP Dube/ HT Photo)

“Impose fine on owners of the stray animals. Catch and sell them if the provision of fine fails to bring about perceptible change in the situation,” said the chief minister while reviewing the arrangements for disposal of the city’s waste water in the wake of disappearance of a 10-year-old boy after falling in a municipal drain at SK Puri in Patna last week.

Expressing his anguish over the incident, Kumar said the boy (Deepak Kumar) fell into the drain because of stray animals. “Stray animals are cause for accidents. The officials should make all arrangements to fight the menace of stray animals. The capacity of existing goshalas (cowsheds) in the city should be increased and additional manpower pressed into service,” he said during the meeting held at his official residence.

The CM also asked the officials to make good use of impounded animals by selling their milk, cowdung and urines. “The same arrangement should be made in other districts of the state,” said Kumar.

While asking Patna district magistrate Kumar Ravi to pay an ex gratia of ₹4 lakh to the family of the missing boy, the CM asked PMC officials to regularly remove silt and other solid wastes from open and underground drains. He also told the officials to develop Patna’s drainage system as a model one, which could be replicated in other cities.

Deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi pulled up PMC officials for their indifference towards covering open manholes despite the matter being brought to their notice. He said the PMC should have a policy in place to cover manholes and catch pits, which turned out to be a major cause for accidents.

Acknowledging that some of the manholes of underground drains remained open, PMC commissioner Anupam Kumar Suman said efforts were on to cover them by December-end. He said mechanised cleaning of underground drains had been launched in the state capital city the first time.

Urban development minister Suresh Kumar Sharma, chief secretary Deepak Kumar, Patna divisional commissionerRL Chongthu, managing director of Bihar Urban Infrastructure Development Corporation AP Singh, managing director of Bihar Rajya Jal Parshad Rajesh Meena and deputy municipal commissioner Vishal Anand were present in the meeting.