Dip in donations, hike in number of cows bother gaushalas

BS Malik

Sonepat, August 29

There are 19 registered and five unregistered gaushalas in the district. According to the Animal Husbandry and Dairy Development Department of Haryana, around 35,000 cows, calves and oxen in live these gaushalas.

Gaushala managements said that before 2010, there was hardly any problem in managing the gaushalas as there was no dearth of donations and the number of cows was also manageable.

They said the number of animals in the gaushalas had increased 8 to 10-fold post 2010. As a result, gaushalas were facing space problem and shortage of funds for raising new structures for accommodating the increasing number of cows, they added.

The gaushala managements are looking for liberal financial assistance from the government to manage the gaushalas properly.

Besides taking help from government veterinary institutes to treat the sick cows, many gaushalas have also engaged veterinary surgeons.

Jai Singh Thekedar, president of Shree Murlidass Gaushala at Kasanda village, said there were around 250 cows in the gaushala in 2009-10 and the number had now reached around 2,800. “With the help of donations and cooperation from people in the last 4-5 years, we have spent around Rs 7 crore on construction of 15 sheds and arranged other infrastructure. The monthly expenditure of the gaushala is around Rs 7 lakh.

“For the first time, the government provided us Rs 3 lakh for the purchase of wheat husk this season, while the gaushala was required to spend Rs 31 lakh for this purpose,” Thekedar said.

He said: “Let the government take over the gaushalas, we will extend it full cooperation.” President of Shri Baba Jugti Nath Gaushala at Kheri Gujjar village Govind Singh and president of Shri Shtam Gaushala at Nizampur village Ajmer Singh said the gaushalas needed government help.

“The number of cows has been increasing every day. Donations are not enough to meet the daily requirements of the cows,” they remarked.

When the gaushala presidents were asked how they managed milking of cows, they said: “For want of experts, we sell cows in last stage of pregnancy to deserving persons on reasonable prices.”