At the Gobind Gopal Sarav Sanjhi gaushala in Maur Mandi. Gurmeet Singh At the Gobind Gopal Sarav Sanjhi gaushala in Maur Mandi. Gurmeet Singh

Having received no help from the Punjab government despite several pleas, a small town in Bathinda district has taken the stray cattle issue into its own hands and has come up with a solution to keep them off the streets.

In May last year, residents of Maur, including farmers, took it upon themselves to pick stray cattle from the streets and put them in the Pashu Mandi area, a 28-acre plot in their town. The mandi is used by the government for 12 days each year, for the ‘Pashu Mandi’ organised once a month for sale and purchase of milk-producing buffaloes and cows. “As this land was lying unattended and there was no response from state government regarding stray animals, we decided to keep stray cattle in this mandi. Over 150 farmers of Maur Kalan joined hands with us in collecting these animals from highways, link roads and we started keeping them inside the mandi,” said Sushil Kumar (56), a member of the gaushala committee formed to manage this makeshift cow shelter.

Within a month, they had already kept 400 cows and buffaloes in the mandi area. Now, the figure is as high as 2,200. “Our drive has reached its 19th month. We are taking care of around 2,200 stray cattle in 12 sheds of the Pashu Mandi. Ideally, it is the duty of the government to do this work. They are even collecting cow cess. But we don’t want accidents to happen on a daily basis,” Kumar added.

Dev Raj Sharma (58), a resident of Maur, said, “We used to feel upset when these abandoned stray animals would garbage on the roadside. Before managing the stray animals, we used to feed them with green fodder wherever we used to see them, but when the numbers kept on increasing, we realised we have to do something. Most of the stray animals are American breed cows, bulls and calves.”

Asked how the animals were ferried to the mandi area, Kumar said, “We hired tempos, loaded the animals onto them and brought them to the site.”

The land is used by the animal husbandry department for the sale of cattle on the 20th of every month, but these rest of the days, the plot lies unused. On the mela day, we adjust the animals in four sheds and free up space for the Pashu Mandi,” said Satpal Virk (40), another member of the gaushala committee.

Managing cattle is an expensive affair. Sushil Kumar said, “We have around 100 regular members who contribute Rs 1000 per month. Farmers give dry and fresh fodder free of cost, but we have to pick the fodder from their villages. Voluntary donors also contribute. Now as stray animals are being managed in this gaushala cum Pashu Mandi, they don’t damage crops of farmers, which used to be very common earlier. We have around 40 employees to take care of animals, one veterinarian and apart from nearly 40-50 persons provide their services voluntarily to take care of animals. If any animal dies, we get the animal picked ourselves. For that we pay Rs 10,000 monthly to the person who comes to pick animals as the municipal council does not cooperate.”

The total expenses come to nearly Rs 6-7 lakh a month, which they meet with voluntary contributions, said Kumar.

“For the past one and a half years, we have not seen any accident on Maur’s roads due to stray cattle. This is a change which the town has seen and all of us are relieved,” said Vinod Kumar, a resident.

A nearby gurdwara sends langar for the gaushala workers every afternoon.

People continue to abandon cattle however, especially during night hours. However, Kumar said the number has gone down, but whenever cattle are abandoned, they are gradually picked and brought to the gaushala by members of NGO Sahara Club.

Trouble in paradise

The gaushala committee however has landed in trouble with the Punjab government, which has asked why a gaushala is being managed on government land.

“We tried to collect some donations in August and September on our own on the day of Pashu Mandi as we need funds to manage so many stray animals. Now farmers themselves directly bring stray animals to this place. However, this did not suit the contractor of Pashu Mandi and an FIR was lodged against 6 named and around 45 unnamed persons on September 22. The state government thereafter said they will themselves manage the stray animals, but as they could not handle the same, they handed over management to us on September 27 with a promise that FIR will be quashed and we will be given cow cess to for daily expenses of animals. However, nothing has been done till now,” said Kumar, adding, “Stray animals management is government’s duty, we are doing social service, hence we should be encouraged rather than demotivated. After the FIR, people had stopped coming for sewa, but now again they are coming with full devotion.”

Kumar said they maintain records of the donations they received — Rs 8 lakh in August and September.

Minister speaks

State Rural Development Minister Tripat Rajinder Bajwa said, “I am aware of the issue. I appreciate that stray animals are being taken care of, but at the same time, the controversy of fund collection needs to looked into. They should not have collected funds on their own on Pashu Mandi day. We were busy with Gurpurab celebrations and now we will look into this project and the issue will be resolved soon.”

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