Will establish 40 cow sanctuaries in Hry: Minister in Assembly

Chandigarh, Aug 30 (PTI) To tackle the menace of straycattle, the Haryana government has decided to establish around40 ‘gau abhayaranyas’ (cow sanctuaries) in the state in aphase-wise manner. Animal Husbandry and Dairying Minister O P Dhankar todaytold the state Assembly the state has a livestock populationof 89.98 lakh, of which 18.08 lakh are cattle, as per 2012census. He said around 1.17 lakh out of these – 85,000 are inrural areas and 32,000 are in urban areas – are stray cattleand for accommodating them 40 gau-abhayaranyas would berequired. Replying to a calling Attention Notice of MLA Hari ChandMidha and 15 other legislators, he said facilities fordrinking water, sheds, boundary wall, veterinary hospital,store for fodder, office, accommodation for attendants, tubewells, power backup are proposed to be created at thegau-abhayaranyas. "To tackle the problem of stray cattle, the governmenthas decided to establish gau-abhayaranyas at various places inthe state. These gau-abhayaranyas are to be established overan area of about 50 to 100 acres of land," he said. In order to accomplish this objective, the government hasstarted identifying and earmarking land pools, Dhankar said. The cost of civil works, machinery and equipment for one’abhyarana’ will be Rs 4.30 crore, he further said. These Gau-Abhayaranyas shall be operated by DistrictCattle Welfare Society headed by the Deputy Commissionerconcerned and the Society would have two Committees- GoverningCommittee and Executive Committee. "Due to economic reasons, farmers leave their animalswhen they become unproductive because of which the number ofstray animals increases. These stray animals in rural areascause damage to the crops and in urban areas cause accidentsand problems for road traffic," he said. Giving the details of the gaushalas in the state, Dhankarsaid Haryana has a network of 408 Gaushalas housing 3,06,490animals. Of these 392 are registered and 16 are unregistered.There are 3,04,833 animals in registered Gaushalas and 1,657in unregistered ones. (MORE) PTI SUN TIR RGTIR