Activists blame admn for neglect of cattle pound

Archit Watts

Tribune News Service

Muktsar, April 18

Some cow activists today gathered in Muktsar town and announced to boycott the upcoming elections, alleging that the cow pound made by the state government at Ratta Tibba village in the Lambi Assembly segment had virtually become a slaughter house.

“We will cast our votes only in favour of that political party which will take care of cows kept at the Ratta Tibba cattle pound. Nearly 1,110 cows are kept there, but dry fodder is not available. On an average, one-two cows are dying there due to starvation and other reasons. Now, an animal carcass disposal point too has been made near the cattle pound. The district administration has failed to collect cow cess, which has resulted into poor condition of the pound,” said advocate Kadambini Arora, Bharat Bhushan, Amrit Khurana, Bittu and other cow activists here today.

They added, “A doctor is deputed at the cattle pound, but he hardly goes there. Further, nearly a dozen workers have been hired, but they too leave the premises after 5 pm. The money sanctioned for the cattle pound too seems to have been misappropriated in the past. Further, the District Red Cross Society had given Rs 50 lakh for the cattle pound, but its utilisation record is not maintained properly. Some donation also came in the past. If the administration fails to take care of the cows there, we will hold a meeting with some local residents and decide future course of action.”

On the other hand, the district administration has time and again claimed that the stray cattle from a number of villages were shifted to the cattle pound, but people were not giving donation.

“A number of meetings have been held with local residents and cow activists, but they too are not supporting whole-heartedly. Further, a joint committee of the administration and local residents has been set up for proper maintenance and running the cattle pound. The Malout SDM has also held a number of meetings with people in this regard. We don’t get any special funds to run the cattle pound, thus there was some problem,” said a senior officer in the district administration.