Neglect, lack of support lead to cattle deaths in gaushala of Sirsa village

Anil Kakkar

Sirsa, July 4

Sri Hari Krishna Gaushala at Biruwala Gudha village in Sirsa district is in dire straits, with 25 heads of cattle dying in the last one and a half months. The gaushala lacks a committee and a primary caretaker. It also lacks the financial support of the government or the Gau Sewa Commission. Villagers have been struggling to maintain the gaushala through donations, but no action has been taken despite informing the Deputy Commissioner and the Gaushala Association officials.

Paramjit Singh, Navdeep Singh, Jagpal Singh, Prithiram and Avatar Singh, all village residents, noted that the gaushala was established in 2016-17 and registered with a committee in 2021. However, the committee showed no interest in managing it, leading the villagers to form a new committee. The committee has not been active for the last two years and the gaushala’s account has been closed. The old committee is accused of not providing records of the gaushala, hindering the formation of a new committee. Meanwhile, some young social workers are temporarily managing it. The village panchayat claims that the lack of financial support makes it difficult to run the gaushala.

Yogesh Bishnoi, district head of the Gau Sewa Sangh, had promised to discuss the issue with local officials and visit the site to resolve the problems. He praised the youth for their dedication in looking after the gaushala.

Balwinder Singh, the gaushala head, said he didn’t want to head the gaushala as he was illiterate, but was appointed by the villagers. He handed over the gaushala documents to the representative of the former Sarpanch. Balwinder claimed that the papers were lost. he said that a new head should be appointed.

The villagers reportedly said the gaushala, which had 125 heads of cattle, had broken boundary walls and lacked proper care. This had led to injuries among weaker bovines and attacks by dogs.