India’s first Coast Guard Academy, proposed in Mangaluru, has run into a stumbling block. A gaushala sheltering 300 cows has refused to vacate riverfront space for the project, saying it will not come in the way of the institution.
Kapila Park Gaushala has reached out to MP and environmentalist Maneka Gandhi, and appealed to the BJP governments at the state and Centre to fulfil their commitment to protection of cattle. Coast Guard Academy has been planned on 158 acres of Karnataka Industrial Area Development Board land near Kenjar, at an approximate cost of Rs 1,000 crore.
Following Maneka’s intervention, Prakash Shetty, trustee of the gaushala, met deputy commissioner KV Rajendra on January 25 but no headway has been made. “We are looking at an amicable solution. We have given the park trustee an opportunity to propose a solution and are awaiting his response,” Rajendra said.
Shetty claimed that land adjacent to the gaushala is in possession of KIADB and the park itself is not part of this parcel.