MC notice to 83 over cattle menace

Rajinder Nagarkoti

Tribune News Service

Panchkula, October 21

Cracking the whip on people, including dairy owners, who are responsible for letting their cattle roam on roads, the Panchkula Municipal Corporation (MC) has issued notice to 83 violators.

MC Commissioner Rajesh Jogpal said action would be taken under Section 133 of the CrPC against those showing lackadaisical approach towards the notice issued by the MC.

Majority of these violators are from Rally village, Ramgarh, Saketri, Kalka, Pinjore among other villages and colonies falling under the MC limit. A senior MC official said they had conducted a survey recently wherein it was found that villagers left their cattle, including cows and buffaloes, in the open in the morning and took them back in the evening. They have identified such violators and notices have been issued accordingly.

Last year, MC officials had even held a meeting with the dairy owners and local village sarpanches. They were warned that if any cattle was found loitering in streets, strict action would be taken and FIRs would also be registered.

Earlier in 2016, the corporation was planning to open its own dairies there but the proposal failed to get the nod during an MC meeting. Two cow shelters in Pinjore and Kalka have around 6,000 to 7,000 cattle while the Panchkula cow shelter has around 3,000 cattle. Each year, around 500 cows are brought to these shelters.

Though the corporation had proposed to construct three cow shelters — one each at Kalka, Toka village (Barwala) and Pinjore (extension of the existing one) — to accommodate stray cattle, nothing has come out till date. The corporation has failed to get any response from NGOs, public welfare trusts or individuals in this connection.

Bull killed woman in 2015

A 72-year-old woman lost her life in 2015 after she was attacked by a stray bull in Pinjore.

Reports of road accidents and traffic problems due to stray cattle are common.