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Updated: Dec 10, 2018 09:42 IST

As Jaspal Singh, a farmer, helplessly watches his completely ruined cane crop, his heart sinks.His standing crop on three acres of land in Bailha village under Nighasan tehsil of Lakhimpur Kheri district was destroyed by herds of abandoned cattle.

Jaspal recalls how herds of cows and bulls had trampled down his wheat crop last year.Bhola Yadav, a marginal farmer in Chandopara village of Prayagraj, remains busy looking after his crop of vegetables and pulses during day time and dons the role of a guard in the night to protect the produce from stray cattle.

Manveer Singh of Garhiya Dilawal village in Farrukhabad has stopped growing pulses for the fear of it being grazed by stray cattle. Similar tales are very common these days across the length and breadth of Uttar Pradesh.

Talking to UP’s farmers about abandoned cattle is like touching their raw nerve.

The Yogi Adityanath government might not have anticipated the magnitude of the crisis that lay in store for it when it tightened the noose around illegal slaughterhouses in the state immediately after taking over the reins of the state in March, 2017.

The ban, coupled with the regulation of cow trade by the Centre and cow vigilantes on the prowl, dealt a major blow to the sale and purchase of cattle. Traditional cattle fair has almost ceased to exist in the state.

“In the absence of a market, most farmers feel compelled to let loose their animals once they are no longer economically beneficial for them. These animals are not even sent to shelter houses and finding no other option they attack on agricultural fields to feed themselves,” says Rohit (he goes by one name), village pradhan of Bhatkheri village in Muzaffarnagar.

Ram Jatan Pal of Bhaghar village in Sitapur says, “Though the ban on illegal slaughter cannot be questioned, the move somehow interfered with the ecological balance resulting in an increase of cattle population all over the state.”

“Even when there is no ban, most Hindus consider cow a sacred animal and cannot afford to commit the sin of killing it,” he adds. As a result, farmers are complaining of damage to their crops.

Dinesh Kumar Mishra, a farmer in Pakaria village in Lakhimpur Kheri, is even more pained to watch his 16-bigha agricultural land lying uncultivated due to stray cattle menace.

“The entire cane crop on this land was reduced to stubs resulting in a loss of Rs 3 lakh. I felt compelled to leave the entire land uncultivated,” he says.

Mishra had to perform a ‘dukh haran yatra’ (repentance pilgrimage) in 2015 when a stray bull got accidently killed in his crop field.

ANIMALS ATTACKING HUMANS, CAUSING ACCIDENTS

The stray cattle are not only ruining the fields but are also getting increasingly violent charging at anyone who comes in their range. They are also emerging as a major cause of road accidents on highways.

Rambabu Singh of Ghatuapur village in Prayagraj says, “The problem of stray cattle is on the rise to the extent that driving in the night has become difficult. Herds of abandoned bovine suddenly surface on roads posing risk to commuters.” “At Motiha village in the same area, Pappu Bhartiya was recently attacked by a stray ox and got 42 stitches in the stomach. He is still recouping in hospital. In Pakriti village, one Lalmani Pushkar was injured in a similar attack. Earlier, one death each has taken place in Jalalpur, Badgaon and Nassirpatti,” Singh claims.

That stray animals are contributing to an increasing number of road accidents and fatalities in UP was also acknowledged during a state road safety meeting chaired by chief minister Yogi Adityanath recently.

The CM directed the departments concerned to do the needful. There were reports of police in some districts, including Etawah and Sitapur, hanging reflectors around the necks of animals to enable people spot them in the night.

FARMERS CREATING THEIR OWN DEFENCE SYSTEMS

As the government machinery is yet to come up with a workable solution to the problem, farmers are putting in place their own defence mechanism to protect their crops.

Farmers who can afford have got their fields fenced with barbed wire to prevent animals from entering their fields.

However, barbed wires are also giving injuries to animals. “Every day one can witness stray cattle roaming with injuries on their bodies,” Shashank Shukla, a farmer in Lakhimpur Kheri, says.

“Fed up with raiding cattle, some farmers have fenced their fields with concertina wires. Stray animals get injured while attempting to enter the fields. It is ironical that cow vigilantes create much hue and cry in the name of ‘gau seva’ but no one comes to the rescue of injured cows,” he adds.

Some farmers who cannot afford to put up fencing have put up thatched ‘machans’ (raised platforms) to keep a vigil on stray cattle and take timely action.

“We sit all night in ‘machans’ with powerful torches. When we see animals coming we throw torch light on them to chase them away,” says Dharamveer Rahi, a farmer in Ghiror village of Mainpuri.

Rahi, who is also the founder of Samvedna Foundation, says villagers had turned into watchmen. “Most of them are deprived of sleep and peace of mind,” he adds.

WILL IT BE A POLL ISSUE?

While it is a bit too early to say if the problem will be a poll issue, many farmers do not deny the possibility of giving vent to their anger in the 2019 Lok Sabha election if the government does not come forward to solve their problem.

“Agriculture is the only mainstay of sustenance for farmers in poverty-struck Bundelkhand. If the government does not save their crops from cattle, farmers may train their anger at the ruling BJP in 2019,” village pradhan of Akathauha in Mahoba Arvind Kumar Singh says.

“Stray menace always existed in Bundelkhand but it aggravated after the ban on illegal slaughter of animals,” he adds.

According to Samajwadi Party spokesman Rajendra Chaudhary, the cattle menace has only compounded the woes of farmers due to the Bharatiya Janata Party government’s wrong policies.

“We (SP) need not make abandoned animals a poll issue because this is already an issue for farmers and they will teach a lesson to the BJP in 2019,” he adds.

Abhimanayu Prasad Chaurasiya of Bahadurpur village in Varanasi says though growing population of stray cattle was a problem for farmers but it will not become a poll issue.

“After all, these animals belong to us and we abandon them when they are not productive for us. How can one hold the government responsible for it,” he asks.

(With inputs from Deo Kant Pandey in Lakhimpur Kheri, K Sandeep Kumar in Allahabad, Hemendra Chaturvedi in Agra and Sudhir Kumar in Varanasi)