Punjab ministers call for collaborative action against stray cattle nuisance

A Punjab Cabinet panel of four senior ministers on Thursday called for a collaborative action by various government departments to tackle the menace of stray cattle in the state. The Cabinet sub-committee comprising ministers Brahm Mohindra (Local Bodies), Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa (Animal Husbandry), Balbir Singh Sidhu (Health) and Vijay Inder Singla (Education) made the call during its first meeting under the chairmanship of Mohindra.

Mohindra directed the Animal Husbandry Department secretary to study the best practices adopted by other states in the country to tackle the stray cattle menace and put up a workable solution for the consideration of the Cabinet sub-committee, an official statement said here. The committee also decided to make officers of Local Bodies and Animal Husbandry Department accountable for any untoward incident involving stray cattle occurring anywhere in the state.

It was decided that the concerned official in whose area such an incident takes place would be personally held responsible for it and departmental action would be initiated against him, the statement further said. The Cabinet panel also said as the head of the district administration and Animal Welfare Society, the deputy commissioners are better aware of the ground realities and are in a better position to evolve a localised workable strategy to deal with the nuisance involving stray cattle.

Animal Husbandry Department's Secretary Raj Kamal Chaudhary informed the panel that there were presently about 11,000 stray cattle housed in various state-run cow shelters. Apart from it, there were 418 private cow shelters in the state under the management of various NGOs and other social and religious organisations, he said, adding these private cow shelters housed approximately one lakh stray cattle.

The Cabinet sub-committee to deal with the stray cattle menace would regularly meet in future to review and suggest ways and means to tackle the problem in a holistic manner, the statement said. PTI SUN RAX

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