Sheds at the cow sanctuary; this photograph was taken in 2015. Express archive Sheds at the cow sanctuary; this photograph was taken in 2015. Express archive

The Union government may have proposed Project Cow, under which sanctuaries in every state would save the cow from slaughter, but the country’s first cow sanctuary in Madhya Pradesh is yet to become functional despite being ready for a long time. Spread over 473 hectares on a hilly area in Salaria village of Agar district bordering Rajasthan, the Kamdhenu Gau Abhayaranya was conceived in 2008 and its foundation stone laid by RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat in 2012. The basic infrastructure needed to start the Rs 32-crore sanctuary was ready in 2015, with the BJP government promising it would be able to accommodate tens of thousands of stray, aged and infirm cows.

The government is now considering involving a nongovernmental organisation to take care of the cows as and when they arrive at the sanctuary. “The Cow Protection Board or the animal husbandry department doesn’t have any direct experience in running a gaushala. They only distribute funds to existing gaushalas (cow shelters). We are looking for an NGO that will manage cows,’’ Swami Akhileshwaranand, chairman of the executive council of Madhya Pradesh Gaupalan Evam Pashu Samvardhan Board, told The Indian Express.

“What if we inaugurate it today and 10,000 cows turn up tomorrow? Who will feed them and how?” he said. The government can’t run gaushalas, he added. “The cow can be protected only if we follow the traditional idea of ‘Ghar ghar gai, ghar ghar gaushala’,” he said.

The government is now thinking of starting with a few hundred cows that were already being taken care of by a local gaushala that is now within the boundary of the sanctuary. NGOs like the one that is running a gaushala on the Gwalior jail campus are being considered for the management of the cow sanctuary. “There could be an informal inauguration with a handful of cows and then a formal inauguration when the number is higher,” the chairman said.

Madhya Pradesh Animal Husbandry Minister Antar Singh Arya, too, said the government is thinking of roping in an NGO to take care of the cows that will be sheltered in the sanctuary. He said the sanctuary could accommodate around 4,000 cows and the government was in a position to inaugurate it in a month or two.

Vice-president of the executive council Santosh Joshi said the government was forced to think about involving private persons or an NGO because “it’s not easy to get government employees to take care of cows”.

Both minister Arya and sanctuary chairman Akhileshwaranand suggested the government turn its attention to the sanctuary after May 15, the day the Narmada Seva Yatra ends, allowing Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan time. Cabinet minister Kusum Mehdele, who held the animal husbandry portfolio until a few months ago, said the sanctuary had been ready even then but could not be inaugurated because the CM was preoccupied with other engagements. She said there was nothing wrong in involving an NGO in the management because it will create more employment opportunities.

The PWD has built sheds to house the cows, an administrative block for the staff, staff quarters, a training centre and a research centre among other infrastructural buildings at the site. Grasslands are being developed and a large portion of the land has been reserved to create water-bodies. The government has sanctioned a dedicated staff of 17 persons, including a deputy director (animal husbandry), for the sanctuary.

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