Shimla: Faced with a mounting problem of farmers abandoning cattle, Himalaya Niti Abhiyan, a NGO, has asked for tagging of such domestic animals for protecting farmlands from stray cattle as well as holding those who abandon these animals accountable for their action.
Pointing out a government notification of April, 2007 about tagging of domestic cattle, Guman Singh, coordinator HNA said, “it should be implemented. All cattle should be tagged, counted annually counted and owners should be issued certificates by the animal husbandry department to check the practice of abandoning cattle.â€
He added that owners of tagged cattle could be indentified easily, which would force the owners to take back the animals. Owners of cattle found roaming stray could even be penalized.
The NGO says that the increasing population of stray cattle along with wild animals like monkeys, wild boars and neelgai (antelopes) were adding to the woes of agriculture and more and more crops were being damaged.
For managing of abandoned cattle, Singh says that a worker could be hired under the rural employment guarantee scheme (MNREGA) for managing Gau Sadan’s that could be established at panchayat levels.
By properly managing these Gau Sadan’s, like the Bhumti Gau Sadan of Kanpur, these shelters of stray cattle over a period of time would become economically viable and self dependent, he said.
