Despite levy of cess, stray cows in pitiable condition in Himachal

Abhinav Vashisht
Kullu, July 25

The plight of cows has not changed even after the introduction of a cess of Re 1 on every bottle of liquor and enacting of a legislation to reserve 15 per cent annual earnings of all temple trusts in the state for gausadans and gaushalas.

The Himachal Pradesh High Court had directed the government to set up sheds for stray cattle but no serious effort had been made. A large number of stray cattle can be seen roaming on streets. They also pose a risk to commuters and have caused a number of fatal accidents.

Sanjeev Nadda, Deputy Director, Animal Husbandry, Kullu, said that there were 2,576 stray cattle in the district and efforts were being made to provide them shelter. He added that 1,500 cattle had been provided shelter in 10 gausadans of the district. There were plans to develop more gausadans and a cow sanctuary.

However, the condition of cows in some gausadans is pitiable. A local resident said that there was leakage in a sewerage chamber at the gausadan at Lanka Bekar of Kullu, due to which there was a lot of slush and cows had no place to sit. He alleged that the condition worsens during the winter season and many cattle perish due to harsh weather conditions. There was no fencing and most of the times, there was no fodder for cows.

He said the Kullu Municipal Committee dumped garbage right next to the gausadan and cows scatter the waste while rummaging it in search of food. Many cows had died due to food poisoning after consuming waste, he added. In another case, a gausadan near Shalaira in Banjar subdivision built at a cost of Rs 18 lakh does not house any cows. Residents said that cows were kept there only for a month and then left to roam on streets.

Kullu Excise and Taxation Officer Harish said that nearly Rs 66 lakh had been collected as the cess on liquor bottles in the district during the last fiscal and sent to the government.

Sources said that over Rs 8 crore of the gauvansh conservation cess on liquor sale was collected in the entire state the last fiscal. However, nothing much had been done on the ground so far, they added.