All dead cows in Madhya Pradesh will have to be buried and those who will leave them in open for carrion will be punished, the Madhya Pradesh government said on Friday.

Not burying dead cows to be a punishable offence now in Madhya Pradesh The punishment will include discontinuation of grant and cancellation of registration of cow shelters and If the municipal corporation employees fail to discharge their duties, disciplinary action will be taken against them.

The government plans to come up with a ‘Samadhi scheme’ for cows under which all the cow shelters and municipal corporations will be directed to bury cows with respect. The corpse will be buried with salt and chemicals so that it could be converted into fertilizer quickly, official sources said.

Principal secretary, animal husbandry, Manoj Shrivastava said: “We are soon going to release the directions to all the authorities. Samadhi scheme will be the first of its kind. At present, people talk about respect for live cows but nobody talks about dead cows.”

“The fertilizer from the carcasses is very beneficial for crop so the people can also use it in their agriculture lands,” he said.

Recently, the carcasses of cows had become a center of controversy when bodies of 18 cows were left in open in the cow sanctuary in Agar Malwa for scavengers.

“In most of the cases, the bodies of cows are left in the open for carrion and natural decomposition instead of skinning, and later the bones of the cows are sold. To end this, the government decided to introduce this scheme,” said an officer requesting anonymity.

Last week, Bhopal municipal corporation had announced the construction of India’s first ‘Gau Muktidham’ (crematorium) on a 5 acre land in Bhopal for a respectful disposal of cow carcasses.

The opposition BJP termed the step as a political stunt. “It’s a political stunt, nothing else. If they are really concerned about cows, they should save the lives of cows first,” BJP spokesperson Rajneesh Agrawal said.

First Published: Feb 01, 2019 20:14 IST