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For all the high-octane defence of the “holy” cow by the Sangh Parivar and its affiliate organisations, over 3.5 lakh bovine animals across Madhya Pradesh may end up on the streets due to a lack of financial aid by the state government for the upkeep and maintenance of cattle sheds.
The cow sheds operated by the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government are in a pitiable condition even as the cow has raised a political storm across the country.
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Several cattle shed owners in MP said that the funds to maintain such facilities have became a trickle since the BJP came to power at the Centre.
The board provides money for the cow sheds on the basis of the number of animals in each shelter. As per the board’s guidelines, Rs 5 is spent on each cow per day. This means that more the number of cows, the larger will be the share of funds for those shelters.
While the cows in these sheds suffer, there is disproportionate spotlight because of the political hype over the call for ban on their slaughter.
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Jain also runs an NGO called Jeevdaya Gaurakshan evam Pariyawaran Samvardhan Board.
Jain claimed that since being in this profession from an early age, he has noticed that “each year around 2,000 to 2,500 cows die because of illness, lack of fodder and eating polythene.” These cows would be rounded up by the Bhopal Municipal Corporation or the police and dispatched to various cow sheds in the city.
While the Zila Gaupalan Samardhan Samiti Vice-President Govind Vyas, who also runs a cow shed, has spoken out against the sufferings of the cows, little has been done to ameliorate their suffering.
Vyas added that “the cow sheds are in a pathetic condition when the BJP has been clamouring about cow protection”.
The situation across MP is alarming. In the last two or three years, nine bovine shelters have shut down in Bhopal while several others are on the verge of going out of business as they continue to suffer losses.
Demands of the Bhopal district cow shed union include:
When contacted, the chairman of the Gau Samvardhan Board, Swami Akhileshanand, said: “I agree that we have acute lack of funds as well as infrastructure that prevent us from improving our bovine shelters. The supporting money we are offering to the shelters is Rs 5 per cow per day, which is negligible.”
The State Gau Samvardhan Board is a statuary body of Madhya Pradesh Department of Animal Husbandry (MPAHD) specially formed to protect cows. However, the board receives Rs 15 to Rs 20 crore annually from the State Mandi Board instead of the MPAHD.
Swami Akhileshanand said, “We have been demanding an increase in the budgetary allotment for years but the state government does not appear to be serious in addressing the issue. We met the chief minister recently to convey our concerns. He agreed to increase funding to Rs 25 crore so we can spend Rs 10 per cow.”
(The writer is a Bhopal-based freelance journalist. He can be reached @MallickKakvi.)
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