Stray cattle menace sparks tension
Stray cow menace has brought farmers at loggerheads with animal activists in Kangra district. Farmers in the Jadrangal area of Kangra district recently caught and tied stray cows in the forest adjoining their village, alleging the animals were destroying their crops.
Deeraj Mahajan, who runs Kranti NGO for animal rights in Kangra, alleged that the cows were tied in the forest area by farmers and were not fed anything for two days. He said this was cruelty to them, adding that 12 stray cows were tied by farmers in the Jadrangal forests. When I took up the issue with the panchayat of Jadrangal, it got the cows released. However, since I took up the issue, I have been receiving threatening calls, he said.
Mahajan said the tying of stray cows on forest land by farmers in various villages of Kangra district was on the rise. The farmers are doing this to protect their crops. However, it was causing cruelty to the animals, he said.
The stray animals, especially cows, have forced farmers in many areas of the district to abandon their fields. Large herds of stray cattle can be seen sitting undisturbed in abandoned fields. Our land holdings are very small. Generally, we used to sow for our consumption. However, in the past few years, stray cattle in the area have increased. The cattle destroy our fields and due to religious beliefs, we cannot hurt them, they said. The farmers also alleged that the stray cattle had been released in their villages by outsiders.
Animal Husbandry officials said now they had started registering the animals of farmers. All animals, including cattle and buffaloes, were now being tattooed with names and addresses of the owners. The tattoos help the department to keep track of the owners of the animals.
Under the new Act, now the panchayat was empowered to impose a fine of up to Rs 500 if the cattle of some owner was found damaging the fields or other property of the farmers. They also said the government had formulated a policy to open gosadans (community cowsheds). Non-government organisations (NGOs) were being urged to open gosadans. The government would give them one-time grants or set up community cowsheds for the NGOs, the department officials said.
However, inquiries revealed that a few NGOs had come forward to accept the proposal of setting up community cowsheds. Generally, the cattle abandoned by owners have stopped giving milk. It would be hard for any society to manage a large number of non-productive cattle without persistent government support.
While the government is moving at a snail’s pace to tackle the problem, the farmers in certain regions are getting restive. Such acts of farmers might bring them at loggerheads with religious or animal activist groups and create unrest.
