Government offers land for old cattle to graze

Two years after banning slaughter of cow progeny, the state government is still struggling to build shelters for cattle that are not fit for farming or have grown old. In its new announcement to this connection, revenue minister Eknath Khadse said that the government is ready to give pasture and reserved grassland for the shelters. Activists and opposition parties have termed it a ‘land grab’ in rural areas.

Despite making an announcement in the budget that '1 crore would be provided to build cow shelters, the government has yet not started any work on it yet. Mr Khadse on Tuesday admitted that a few MLAs and NGOs are willing to start cow shelters and the government is chalking out a plan accordingly. “We are in the process of starting cow shelters at every district so that the old cows and bulls can be taken care of there. The selected NGOs or organisations would be allotted pastures to build shelters. Also, a separate grassland would be kept reserved for the cattle’s fodder. The government will give Rs 1 crore to the organisations to build the shelters,” Mr Khadse said. The minister even said that the government would supply water at a reasonable rate to the cow shelters.

Activists, however, termed the move land grabbing. Jayaji Suryavanshi, an activist from Aurangabad, said, “The government’s decision to offer pasture lands and green grass for grazing can turn into land grabbing. Also, farmers would not get any benefit from the cattle that grow old or are not for farming. Everywhere, the pastures that the government is talking about are encroached upon later. This announcement has no benefit for the people.” The activist also pointed out that the government has no official figures about the number of such animals in the state. “How they are going to plan the shelters when there are no official figures available for the old cattle. On what basis the NGOs or persons will set up the cattle camps ” he said.

Also commenting on the matter, Congress spokesperson Sachin Sawant said that the announcements made by the BJP government never turn into reality. “There is no government resolution yet on the issue. How is the revenue department going to implement it Is this the love for the animals that the government is being talking about ” Mr Sawant asked.