Stray cattle: Vexed farmers call panchayats, threaten to tie animals in tehsil

MEERUT Farmers troubled by stray cattle are now convening panchayats in villages to find a solution to the problem.

One such panchayat was held in Nirpura village of Baghpat district on Thursday, in which farmers of adjoining villages participated along with former Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) MLA Veerpal Rathi.

After a detailed discussion, the farmers unanimously decided to take out a march from Bamnauli village to the tehsil in Baraut and submit a memorandum to the district magistrate of Baghpat to resolve the issue which had made their lives miserable.

Former MLA Veerpal Rathi said that farmers were compelled to guard their crops in severe cold to protect it from stray cattle which barged into fields in large groups and caused damage.

The farmers also decided that if the administration failed to resolve the issue, they would tie the stray cattle on the tehsil premises.

Bharatiya Kisan Union’s president in Baghpat Pratap Gurjar said that farmers were in deep trouble because of the growing menace of stray cattle. “I receive frantic calls from farmers every day in which they request for help to get rid of these stray animals ruining their crops,” said Gurjar.

He said that after getting no assistance from the administration, the farmers had started convening panchayats in villages to find a solution to the problem and also find a way to compel the administration to take action.

Gurjar said that the BKU’s annual three-day ‘ Chintan Shivir’ was scheduled in Prayagraj from January 16 where a blueprint would be prepared to tackle the issue effectively.

He said that if the government failed to provide relief to farmers, they would have no option but to tie the stray cattle on the premises of the district magistrate’s office.

The farmers said that a cow sanctuary had been approved in Chandan village of Muzaffarnagar where more than 5,000 stray cattle would get shelter. Pratap and other farmers, however, questioned what would happen in other districts where thousands of stray cattle wandered, destroyed crops and attacked people.

Pratap Gurjar said that the district magistrate had given the responsibility to keep stray cattle in gaushala (cow shelter) to gram panchayats, gram secretary and other block and village panchayat level officials, but it was only on papers and the situation on the ground was very different. Gaushalas were poorly managed and overcrowded and those who were responsible for taking care of the cattle seldom paid due attention.