Animal welfare board stays on paper

Rajkot: The Animal Welfare Board (AWB) formed by the state government following Gujarat high court’s direction in June last year still remains on paper as not a single meeting of the body has been convened till date.
Members of the board from Saurashtra aggrieved that the state-level body has been dysfunctional since its inception and made a representation to Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani on Monday. They stated that they are not interested in being member of an AWB, which exists only on paper.

Gujarat government had not formally set up AWB despite the Supreme Court direction in 2008. It was only after a public interest litigation (PIL) was filed in Gujarat HC in September 2016 seeking direction to state government to form the board that the board was formed in June 2017 with minster of animal husbandry as its chairman.

A member of AWB Rajendra Shah said, “Till today, not a single meeting has been convened. There are so many issues to curb cruelty towards animals. We made a representation regarding this to the CM on Monday and asked him to convey a meeting soon. We also met minster R C Faldu and secretary of the animal husbandry department, but the request for meeting was declined citing budget session of state assembly, which is on currently. We have been assured that the meeting will be called after budget session.”

AWB is the body for framing animal welfare laws and to advise government on making the rules regarding animal cruelty. “There should be a society for prevention of atrocity against animals in every district, but this too is dysfunctional. We can raise this issue if the board meeting is called,” Shah added.

Another board member Mittal Khetani alleged, “The bureaucrats are not interested in functioning of the board. They want this board only on paper and we don’t want to be directors only on paper.”

There are nearly 17 members in the board out that 10 members are ex-officio and others are working for animal rights. “There are few members who themselves don’t know that they are the members of the board,” Khetani said.

The state board has to work under the guidelines of Animal Welfare Board of India. The members of AWB Gujarat feel that there are many pending issues in the state like infrastructure of Panjrapol and animal birth control, which needs to be addressed at the earliest.

Secretary of the AWB K V Patel said, “We fixed dates twice in the past, but on both the occasions we got the message to postpone the meeting just a day before as the office-bearers were engaged somewhere else. We are yet to meet for an introductory meeting. After the first introductory meeting, we can fix the agenda of the board.”