Explainer: Where does the cow cess go?

IT was to tackle the stray cattle menace and ensure proper care at cattle pounds that the Punjab government imposed a cow cess on various items in 2016. Nine years later, there’s been little or no visible change on the ground. A survey conducted by the Amritsar Municipal Corporation last year identified 535 stray cattle across 126 locations in the city, but no concrete action has been taken to remove them. Officials admit that around 400 stray animals are still on the roads.

Traffic expert Navdeep Asija says nearly 8 per cent of all road accident fatalities in Punjab are caused by stray animals, especially when drivers make a desperate attempt to avoid hitting them. However, not all such cases find their way into official records.

fund Collection and use

Punjab charges cow cess on the sale of four-wheelers (Rs 1,000), two-wheelers (Rs 200), Rs 10 per bottle of Indian Made Foreign Liquor, Rs 5 on Punjab-made liquor and beer, Rs 1,000 per function at AC marriage palaces, Rs 500 at non-AC palaces, Rs 100 per round for oil tankers, Re 1 per cement bag and 2 paise per unit of electricity. However, apart from the Excise Department and the Regional Transport Authority, no other department has released funds to the Amritsar Municipal Corporation.

According to official records, the Amritsar civic body has received Rs 8.65 crore as cow cess from the Excise Department since 2021-22. The Regional Transport Authority has transferred more than Rs 5 crore to the Corporation since 2018-19.

Ironically, the MC has no effective plan to utilise the funds it has received. Since the implementation of cow cess, the civic body has spent only Rs 5.5 crore, while nearly Rs 8.9 crore remains unused.

The logistics

Questions persist about the non-utilisation and misutilisation of the cow cess that is collected, with an apparent lack of planning, action on the ground and accountability.

Ravinder Kumar, in charge of a cattle pound in the city, claims to have removed 290 cows from the streets and shifted them to the municipal gaushala, where an NGO is paid Rs 61 per animal per day for care. Around 300 such cows are also supported by the MC at a gaushala run by a religious organisation on Ram Tirath Road. Across the city, five gaushalas run by different organisations house more than 2,000 cattle, but the civic body only funds the upkeep of cattle removed from streets.

Meanwhile, two major government-led gaushala projects remain incomplete. The state-run gaushala at Gaunsabad village has been stalled for several years. Another municipal gaushala at Jhabal Road has also seen very slow progress and remains unfinished.

Kuljit Singh Malawali, an advocate, while criticising the government and the civic body for poor utilisation of public money, says despite collecting cess from citizens, authorities have failed to address the stray cattle issue. “Because of this inaction, several self-styled cow vigilante groups have emerged in the city. If the funds collected had been used properly, not a single stray animal would be left roaming on the roads,” he says.

Mayor Jatinder Singh Moti Bhatia told The Tribune, “We now have enough capacity for stray cattle. Two more sheds have been constructed recently at the Focal Point gaushala. We currently do not have a vehicle to lift cattle from the roads, but it will be arranged soon. After that, there will be no cattle roaming on the roads. The under-construction gaushala will also be completed soon.”

Municipal Corporation Commissioner Bikramjit Singh Shergill said that at present, the civic body is taking care of 600 cows in two gaushalas. “A new gaushala is in the final stage of construction and will be completed within 10 days. Nearly 400 stray cattle roaming on the streets will be shifted there soon. A tender has also been floated for purchase of two cattle-lifting vehicles,” he added.

fatal accidents

According to the FIR-based data compiled by Punjab Police, stray cattle caused three deaths within the Amritsar Police Commissionerate limits in 2022 and two deaths in 2023.

In the last week of November, self-styled cow vigilante groups nabbed a driver, Harpreet Singh, accusing him of running over and killing a calf that was sitting on the road in Amritsar. He was released after he went to a temple and offered an apology.

Earlier this year, on July 30, Gurwinder Singh, brother-in-law of Akal Takht Jathedar Kuldeep Singh Gargaj and a Punjab Police Assistant Sub-Inspector, died when a cow hit his motorcycle at Gohalwarh on Tarn Taran road.