JAIPUR: Perhaps it is the time when they are needed the most. But scan far and wide and there are no gau rakshaks to be found in flood-affected villages of Pali, Sirohi and Jalore. Hundreds of cows can be seen sitting helter-skelter washed away from the sheds by the flood with barely anything to eat and nowhere to go.

Rebaris, Bheels, Bishnois and the Chaudharys of these villages keep two to six cows at their houses but the flood washed them away. TOI was witness to hundreds of cows sitting in the middle of national highway between Sumerpur (Pali), Bali (Pali) and other areas.

"We are offering them roti and green vegetables every day since they are seen here on the road," said Mehfooz Aalam, a native of Palanpur (Gujarat) who has a roadside hotel on the national highway connecting Pali to Sirohi.

Aalam in a sarcastic tone said, "Sadly, we are living in a state where a person was killed by mob some months ago as the mob believed that person was transporting cows for slaughtering. There are no takers for these cows. Where have those cow vigilantes have disappeared."

Pehlu Khan, a Meo Muslim was beaten by a mob of cow vigilantes on April 1, 2017 while the victim on their way to Haryana after purchasing cattle from Jaipur. He later died in the hospital on April 3.

Everywhere on the broken and damaged roads one can either see a large number of cows sitting or the places like Panchala, Sankhad. "That night I could barely collect the jewellery of my wife, one motor bike but could not take two of my cows and a buffalo along. Next day when I went back to my house on my farm my cattle were not there," recalled Bishna Ram of Sankhad village.

According to official record of Pathmera, the biggest cow shelter of western Rajasthan more than 900 cows have died. When contacted on this large number of death, an officer on the condition of anonymity, said, "At the Gaushala largely the ill cows or the cows which are abandoned by their owners are kept." However, locals near Pathmeda area alleged that more than 2,000 cows were killed in floods but the administration is not concerned enough to even visit the place and evaluate the loss.

