Noida farmers lock 50 cows in school, say they’re eating crops

GREATER NOIDA: Farmers of a village in Badalpur locked up nearly 50 stray cows, which have been apparently destroying their crops, inside a government primary school for a few hours on Sunday afternoon.

The local police intervened and freed the stray cattle around 4pm. They were sent to a cow shelter later in the evening. The farmers of Mahawad appeared to have been inspired by their counterparts in Bhadivar village of Prayagraj, where at least 100 cows had been locked up recently in a primary school that had to shift classes to the playground as the bovines had crowded the premises.

The farmers of Mahawad said the stray cattle had virtually robbed them of their sleep.

“We have to guard our fields 24X7. What to do? The cows are destroying the crops and seeds we are sowing. We are facing losses up to Rs 50,000 per acre,” said Pramod Sharma, village pradhan.

Sharma said they decided to lock up the cattle in the school because repeated pleas to the administration to shift them to cow shelters had fallen on deaf ears. “The problem has been rampant for the past 3-4 years. We waited long. Since the administration is disinterested, the farmers collectively decided to lock up the animals in the school. We need to sleep peacefully at night,” he added.

A police team convinced the villagers to free the cows in the evening. “We also contacted people from various cow shelters for help,” said Nagendra Chaubey, the SHO of Badalpur police station.

District magistrate BN Singh said the 50-odd cows had been sent to a shelter in Dadri. “We know about the problem of stray cattle. We will soon come up with a solution,” Singh added.