To end the menace of stray cattle on the roads of Berhampur, Odisha, the local civic body has started tagging all cows, bulls, bullocks and buffaloes with special 11-digit identity numbers from this week.
The project, a joint initiative of the Berhampur Municipal Corporation and the State Animal Husbandry Department, was officially inaugurated by Ganjam District Collector Vijay Amruta Kulange at Haridakhandi in Ward 1 of the BeMC on July 1.
The process of tagging the cattle in the city will continue till August 10. A total of 10 veterinary teams are involved in the project. The BeMC has also started an awareness drive about the project.
Traffic woes
“Stray cattle are a major cause for traffic woes and accidents in the city. Added to that, they also hamper urban sanitation. This tagging process is aimed at restricting the free movement of cattle within the city limits,” said the Collector.
This will also help in protecting the animals and assessing the number of deaths during natural calamities, said veterinary officials.
According to Chief District Veterinary Officer Trinath Nayak, each and every cow, bull, bullock and buffalo within Berhampur city limits will have a plastic tag attached to its ear. A digital database of the owners, the permanent location and the breed of the bovine will be created for each 11-digit number.
Awareness drive
Through the awareness drive, the BeMC is persuading cattle owners to keep their animals in cowsheds and not let them out to roam in the open.
After the process of tagging ends, no stray cattle will be allowed on the roads of Berhampur. The BeMC will seize the animals and make their owners — identified from the tags — pay a fine to get them back.
If no one pays the fine and reclaims the cattle, the administration will hand over the seized animals to poor dairy farmers living on the outskirts of Berhampur, the Collector said.
The tagging process will be repeated every six months to include new animals. The last domestic animal census in Berhampur was held in 2012.
Although it is to be conducted every five years, the next census will be held this year.
As per the 2012 census, there were 6,359 cows and 793 buffaloes in the city. These numbers are expected to have increased manifold, along with the rise in human population.