VIJAYAWADA

10 August 2019 10:33 IST

Government orders investigation; Minister, officials visit the premises

In a shocking incident, as many as 101 cows were found dead on Saturday under suspicious circumstances in a gosala (cow shelter) run by Sri Vijayawada Gosamrakshana Sangam in Kothur Tadepalli village on the outskirts of Vijayawada.

Officials put the toll at 86 and said that 15 were battling for life. The police did not register any case saying that ‘natural death of cattle’ will not attract any section under IPC.

Endowments Minister Vellampalli Srinivas Rao, MLAs Vasantha Krishna Prasad and Malladi Vishnu, Collector A. Md. Imtiaz, Animal Husbandry Joint Director Bharat Ramesh and other officials who visited the gosala said that an inquiry had been ordered.

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Contrary to official statements, Two Town Circle Inspector Md. Umar said the Vijayawada Gosamrakshana Sangam members have not expressed any doubts on the death of cows, and nobody lodged any complaint alleging that the death of cows was suspicious and hence no case was registered.

According to Sangam secretary Saboo, the cows died one after the other in the wee hours of Saturday after consuming grass. The Sangam lodged a complaint with the police immediately.

“We brought seven tonnes of green grass from Addanki in Prakasam district on Friday, and served the same to the cattle in the sheds,” the secretary said.

Minister Srinivas Rao expressed concern over the death of cows and said that an inquiry would be conducted into the circumstances that led to the tragedy.

Responding to the incident, Animal Husbandry Minister Mopidevi Venkataramana said that an inquiry would be conducted to find out whether the deaths occurred due to negligence or any conspiracy.

Krishna District Collector said the deaths might have occurred due to over-consumption of fodder or the feed being laced with some poison. As many as 86 cows died, 10 recovered and the condition of five continued to be critical, Mr. Imtiaz said.

Post-mortem

Animal Husbandry Joint Director Bharat Ramesh said that post-mortem was being done on the gosala premises and the viscera samples would be sent to Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) to ascertain the cause of deaths. “Along with viscera samples, the fodder and water samples served to the cattle last night are being sent to FSL,” Mr. Imtiaz told The Hindu.

In all, there are 1,450 cows in sheds in the gosala. About 10 cows reportedly died under mysterious circumstances a few days ago and this was the second incident in the gosala, in the last one month.