Minister orders inquiry into bungling of cattle pound funds

Ravi Dhaliwal

Tribune News Service

Kalanaur, April 4

The government has initiated an inquiry into the alleged bungling of funds used to establish the lone cattle pound in Gurdaspur in Kalanaur town.

The concept was to house stray cattle which otherwise posed a serious threat of human lives and also inflicted a heavy damage to crops.

Panchayat Minister Tripat Rajinder Singh Bajwa ordered the probe after a physical inspection of the assets was carried out by Dera Baba Nanak MLA Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa. The funds were provided by the Panchayati Raj Department.

Even the amount of green fodder being given to the 130-odd cows has come under the scanner with sources pointing out that against the daily requirement of 20-25 kg for each cow, just 12 kg was being provided. The pound was established in November year at a cost of Rs 85 lakh. However, an inspection by Randhawa belied the claims of the officials.

“I have information that cows are dying due to paucity of feed and that something was amiss at the facility constructed during the SAD-BJP regime. I have also brought it to the notice of the minister on why was the pound inaugurated by Sukhjinder Singh ‘Sonu’ Langah, son of former minister SS Langah,” he added.

The latter was just a zila parishad member at that time and had no locus standi to officially inaugurate something built with public money, he pointed out.

“After inspection, several anomalies were found, the main one being inadequate quantity of green fodder,” said Randhawa.

Keeping in view the inferior quality of fodder, he asked officials to ensure that henceforth half the land where the pound has been established will be used to grow cattle feed.

“The idea was to have 2,000-3,000 cattle housed here. However, at present there are just 130-odd cattle. This is because people are wary of bringing animals here due to lack of facilities. Only a proper audit will reveal how and where Rs 85 lakh was spent,” said an official.