Fields of despair: Farmers leave fields uncultivated due to stray animals

Hundreds of acres of land in the state have become barren as farmers have abandoned their fields due to the menace of stray animals over the past few years. Despite this, the state government is yet to take serious efforts to address the issue. Successive governments have shown a lack of urgency in tackling this important problem.

Thousands of animals can currently be seen roaming in farmers’’ fields, streets, roads and highways. Official sources confirmed that crops worth over Rs 1,500 to Rs 2,000 crores are destroyed by stray animals and monkeys in the state every year.

Farmers in Palampur and surrounding areas told The Tribune that stray animals have become a major problem, forcing them to guard their crops round the clock. They claimed to have been agitating for the past three years, submitting memoranda to the Chief Minister and Deputy Commissioners, but to no avail.

Meanwhile, the number of stray animals in the state has quadrupled over the past three years. Interestingly, The Tribune found that the Himachal Pradesh Government has been collecting Rs 10 as “cow cess” on the sale of every bottle of liquor, generating over Rs 100 crores in revenue over the past two years. The primary objective of imposing this cess was to utilise the funds for rehabilitating stray animals and protecting farmers’’ crops.

However, despite the revenue generated, nothing substantial has been done and thousands of stray animals continue to roam the state, posing a risk to road safety – a dozen people have lost their lives in accidents involving stray animals on highways.

A senior government officer stated that the state government is yet to formulate a policy for stray animal rehabilitation. Although the matter has been discussed in cabinet meetings, no decision has been reached. The government is keen to involve the private sector in running cow sanctuaries but has been unable to find takers due to the proposed monthly payment of Rs 700 per animal being deemed unviable.

It may be noted that a cow sanctuary was constructed near Palampur at a cost of over Rs 3 crore in 2022, but it remains non-operational due to bureaucratic delays and red tape.