Liquor sale yields Rs 6.5 crore for cow welfare

Pratibha Chauhan

Tribune News Service

Shimla, January 16

A sum of Rs 6.50 crore generated from the sale of liquor will fall in the kitty of the Gau Sewa Aayog, aimed at protecting and rehabilitating 32,160 stray cattle in Himachal as part of the BJP regime’s agenda of “cow protection.”

With the setting of the Gau Sewa Aayog and levying of Gau Sewa cess being the major highlight of the first 2018-19 Budget presented by Jai Ram Thakur, three major cow sanctuaries are being proposed at Kotla Barog in Sirmaur, Thana Khana Khas in Una and at Damtal in Kangra to house the stray cattle.

Interestingly, though the Gau Sewa Aayog is being set up, more than 50 per cent of the stray cattle population comprises bullock and not cow whose protection and rehabilitation remains the main agenda of the saffron party.

“It is the Re 1 Gau Vansh cess levied on the sale of each liquor bottle since March 2018 which has helped raise Rs 6.50 crore,” said Jagdish Sharma, Principal Secretary, Excise and Taxation.

As per the 2012 stray cattle census, there are 32,160 stray cattle in HP. At present, 140 Gau Sadans are being run by NGOs, 40 by the Rural Development Department and one at Khajjian in Nurpur by the Animal Husbandry Department.

Besides, around Rs 4 crore is likely to be pooled in ‘Gau Raksha Rashi’ from 15 per cent of the total temple offerings in the shrines of Chintpurni, Jwalamukhi, Chamunda and Bajjreshwari in Kangra. With the offerings at Chintpurni temple being Rs 35.79 crore, about Rs 1.95 crore will go to Gau Sadans after deducting the expenditure by the temple trust. Similarly, Rs 1.11 crore will be deposited from the shrines in Kangra district.

The Himachal Pradesh Gauvash Sanrakshan and Samvardhan Bill 2018 was passed on December 12 and is now awaiting the nod of the Governor. Though a Gau Samvardhan Board had been constituted by the previous Congress regime, the present regime is expected to merge it with the Gau Sewa Aayog.

“The money from the sale of liquor bottles is yet to be transferred from the Excise Department to a separate fund, but the Animal Husbandry Department is spending from the Rs 10 crore budget that it has for the purpose of Gau Sadans,” said Sanjay Gupta, Principal Secretary, Ayurveda and Animal Husbandry.

He added that the land was being identified for cow sanctuaries and Gau Sadans in Nalagarh and Darlaghat.

As per records of the Animal Husbandry Department, the capacity of the 200 Gau Sadans is about 14,000 and they are housing 13,000 stray cattle. The stray cattle menace has resulted in the loss of crop and road accidents taking place due to people abandoning their cows and animals once they fail to give milk and become too old.