Govt set to revive cow commission

Vishav Bharti

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, August 30

The state government has started the process to revive the defunct Punjab Gau Sewa Commission. Sources said Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh has given approval for the appointment of chairman and members of the commission.

Animal Husbandry Minister Tript Rajinder Bajwa confirmed that the process was on to appoint the chairman of the commission.

When asked if the move would mean pushing the RSS agenda, Bajwa refused to comment and said it was the Chief Minister’s prerogative to appoint chairmen and members of commissions and boards.

The idea of having cow commissions was floated across the country by the RSS over a decade ago. On the similar lines, the RSS was instrumental in persuading the SAD-BJP government to constitute Gau Sewa Board in 2009. It was later turned into a full-fledged commission, with an Act passed in the Punjab Assembly.

Keemti Bhagat, former chairman of the commission, said the RSS had done a lot to establish the Gau Sewa Commission in the state. “In Punjab, it was brainchild of Kashmiri Lal Khanna, coordinator between RSS and BJP’s Punjab unit,” he said.

However, state farmers and dairy owners had opposed the activities of the commission, alleging that cow vigilante groups have created havoc after formation of the commission. With severe damage to the state’s Rs 2,500 crore dairy farming business, even the then Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal had to intervene to check the activities of the cow vigilante groups.

After the Congress formed government in 2017, it didn’t take much interest in the activities of the commission. The three-year term of the chairman and eight members came to an end last year, but the government didn’t fill the posts. The commission was thus lying defunct for almost two years.

Now, the recent move has again raised eyebrows. The farmers, who are struggling with stray cattle, are the biggest opponents of the move. “Instead of reviving this commission, the government should form a commission for the protection of crops from stray cattle,” says Sukhdev Singh Kokri, general secretary, BKU (Ugrahan).