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Uttar Pradesh: Cows Continue Dying At State Run Shelters Due to Rain And Lightning

Following the escalating number of cow deaths, CM Adityanath suspends eight officials.
Uttar Pradesh: Cows Continue Dying At State Run Shelters Due to Rain And Lightning

Representational Image. Image Courtesy: IANS

While Adityanath-led BJP government in UP has allocated Rs 447 crore for cow protection in the state, the situation on the ground is getting worse day by day. After 35 cows were found dead within 48 hours in Prayagraj district of Uttar Pradesh at a state-run shelter on Friday, July 12, four bovines died in Hardoi district on Sunday morning, raising the toll to 15 in a week. 

In the last few weeks, several cows were found dead in the government-run shelters across Uttar Pradesh. The deaths were reported due to rain, lightening and other factors such as starvation and overcrowding. 

On Sunday, four bovines were found dead due to rain and several other cows were found in critical condition at the government run gaushalas (cow shelters) in Mansoor Nagar village of Hardoi district with no arrangement of postmortem. A villager claimed that 15 cattle have died in a week and not a single concerned official visited the shelter hose. Each of these cowsheds have a capacity to shelter 200 cattle but due to overcrowding and poor management of the gaushalas, bovines continue to die in several parts of the state.

However, reports have come in from multiple locations about the way these shelters are being run. In Ayodhya and Mirzapur, for instance, several cows were found dead at a shelter in the past few days which have triggered protests by locals. Last week, In Prayagraj, 35 cows were electrocuted to death after an electric pole fell on the ground in a water-logged shelter, the district administration confirmed.

Following the escalating number of cow deaths in the state, Chief Minister Adityanath has suspended eight officials. A show-cause notice has also been served to the District Magistrate (DM) of Ayodhya and Mirzapur. 

YOGI'S COW CESS FAIL?

Ever since Adityanath has come to power, protection of cows has been a priority of the UP government.

Earlier in May, the Adityanath government imposed a cow cess on the sale of items related to excise department items, alcohol for instance, to fund the maintenance of these shelters. A cess of 0.5% was levied on toll tax collected by government agencies. Besides, the mandi cess was also increased from 1% to 2%.

It should be noted that the incident is happening at a time when the Adityanath government has allocated Rs 447 crore for setting up cow shelters under the state budget of the fiscal year 2019- 20. The budget includes Rs 247 crores for maintenance of cow shelters in the rural areas and Rs 200 crores for the Kanha Gaushala Scheme. 

Meanwhile, stray cattle menace is giving sleepless nights to farmers in Uttar Pradesh and Adityanath government had directed all District Magistrates to rehabilitate abandoned cows in shelters and had also announced a budgetary corpus for protection of the bovine. However, this move has failed miserably on the ground. 

Reacting over the escalating number of cow deaths in shelters, senior journalist Sharat Pradhan based in Uttar Pradesh told NewsClick, “cows will die when their time comes but sacking officers over the death of cows has proved how this government is obsessed with the cows. It is a known fact that cow shelters are in a really pathetic state. Cows are not only dying in Prayagraj and Ayodhya but all over the state. In Lucknow, the capacity of a shelter is six thousand and it was raised up to nine thousand. But recently, I have been told 20,000 cattle are living there. This is how the shelters are running."

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