Civic body plans to plug city’s entry, exit points

Sukhmeet Bhasin

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Tribune News Service

Bathinda, September 9

To tackle the rising presence of stray cattle in the city, the Municipal Corporation of Bathinda (MCB) is planning to hire persons on a contract basis, who would guard the entry and exit points in the city to stop the entry of stray cattle into the city from villages.

The MCB has also conducted a survey in this regard and has come to know that there are 18 main roads and around 67 entry and exit points in the city, which would be guarded. The civic body is planning to invite an Expression of Interest (EoI) for this work soon and after getting a positive response, they would start work on it.

It is learnt that the MC is lifting stray cattle from the city and shifting them to gaushalas. But there is no let-up in the problem as more and more stray cattle are coming from villages into the city on a daily basis. MCB Commissioner Bikramjit Singh Shergill said, “We are planning to plug in all the entry and exits points in the city to stop the entry of stray cattle from villages and we also prepared a blueprint for this purpose and we will soon be issuing an Expression of Interest for this work.

He also claimed that though they were lifting stray cattle from the city, the problem showed no signs of relenting. Residents are a harried as stray animals can be seen roaming in and around the city, mostly on roads, much to the chagrin of commuters. Sometimes, stray cattle appear all of a sudden on roads, jeopardising the lives of commuters, especially bikers. Several mishaps have proved fatal, resulting into the loss of precious lives.

Besides, many people have sustained injuries in such mishaps. Residents say they pay cow cess on a number of items, such as cars, two-wheelers, electricity bill, marriage palaces, cement bags and liquor, even then commuters are being attacked or injured by stray cattle. It is worth mentioning here that the MCB Bathinda is the first in the state to introduce cow cess to tackle the menace.