In UP budget, Yogi Adityanath allocates Rs 98.5 crore for cow shelters

The Yogi Adityanath government has for the first time proposed an allocation of Rs 98.5 crore in the Uttar Pradesh budget for operating shelters for stray cows across the state.

“To overcome the problem that farmers are facing due to stray cows, the government has decided to open gaushalas (cow shelters) in a phased manner across the state,” chief minister Yogi Adityanath said after finance minister Rajesh Agarwal presented the state budget here on Friday.

According to officials of the state government, initially, cowsheds will be opened in urban areas and thereafter at the tehsils and villages.

Farmers are affected by stray cattle which damage standing crops.

The chief minister had announced earlier that the government will open shelters for stray cows, the number of which was said to have shot up after a crackdown on illegal slaughter houses. The crackdown was launched after the Yogi government assumed office on March 19 last year.

“We have saved cows from slaughter and now we will find a way for their proper rearing,” the CM had said at an event in Vrindavan earlier this month, while laying the foundation stone of the Mahamana Gau Gram scheme.

Laxmi Narayan Chaudhary, UP minister for dairy development, has been raising the issue of stray cattle at cabinet meetings.

“It is good step by the state government for proper rehabilitation of stray cattle. The measure will also prove to be a great help for farmers whose crops are most vulnerable to stray cattle,” said Prof DC Rai of the department of animal husbandry and dairying, Banaras Hindu University.

It will also check unwanted breeding of cows, he added.

Prof Rai applauded the state government’s decision to promote indigenous breed of cows that were on the verge of extinction in the state.

Animal Husbandry

Rs 75 crore for Pt Deen Dayal Upadhyay Mini Dairy Scheme.

Rs 15 crore for Pt Deen Dayal Upadhyay Pashu Arogya Mela in development blocks.

Rs 100 crore for National Cattle Health and Disease Control Programme.

770 mobile cattle hospitals are running in the state through which cattle health and breed improvement will be ensured. For this, a provision of Rs 27 crore has been made.

Dairy development

Rs 15 crore for setting up Dairy Development Fund.

Process of direct payment in the accounts of farmers for milk price payment through DBT started.

Under the new ‘Nand Baba Puraskar Scheme’, Rs 52 lakh earmarked for maximum milk produce through Indian breed cows to milk producers.

Rs 54 lakh for ‘Gokul Puraskar’.