Ropar MLA pulls up MC authorities for not collecting cow cess

Ropar AAP MLA Dinesh Chadha has pulled up the authorities of the Municipal Council (MC) Ropar for not imposing cow cess in their area.

He alleged that the MC authorities were not collecting cow cess imposed on various products in their respective areas in the entire Ropar district. Due to this, the MCs did not have enough funds to tackle the problem of stray cows, he said.

Chadha said, “It is surprising to learn that the MCs in the district are not imposing or collecting cow cess, even though they are fully authorised to do so.”

Under the existing guidelines, the MCs can collect a cow cess of Rs 1 per cement bag sold, Rs 5,500 per event from marriage palaces and Rs 1,000 per diesel or petrol tank from petrol pump owners. “Had this cess been collected regularly, the revenue could have been used to maintain proper cow shelters and manage stray animals effectively,” Chadha said.

In the wake of Punjabi singer Rajveer Jawanda’s tragic death in a road accident involving stray cattle, the Ropar administration launched a major drive to remove stray animals from city streets.

Chadha said according to the data from the Animal Husbandry Department, the last official cattle census conducted in 2019 recorded around 1.44 lakh stray cattle in Punjab, including nearly 5,000 in Ropar district alone. However, officials admit that no updated survey has been conducted since then, and sources within the department estimate that the number of stray animals may have nearly doubled in the past five years, he said.

Municipal bodies and district administrations across Punjab, including Ropar, currently lack sufficient infrastructure to house the large population of stray cattle. Existing cow shelters are overcrowded and under-funded, making it nearly impossible to accommodate all stray animals.

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