JAIPUR: As state-owned cow shelter Hingonia gaushala is running packed, the civic agencies will start an exercise to identify new land to establish one more cow shelter in the city to accommodate more bovine.
The existing cow shelter is presently housing nearly 20,000 animals that is nearly 250% of its capacity of 8,000. The issue has been long pending and now plans are afoot to establish new cow shelter.
In a recent meeting of senior officials of Jaipur Development Authority (JDA) and (Jaipur Municipal Corporation), it was decided that the civic authorities will soon identify a suitable land parcel available near the existing cow shelter
“The JDA will allot land to the JMC in city periphery to develop the shelter. The land will be identified in same area as both the shelters could co-exist and infrastructure can be utilised in appropriate manner,” said an official following the meeting.
The issue of overcrowding at the cow shelter was previously also raised by the private contractor managing the existing shelter, however, the procedure had been on slow progress. The situation has adversely impacted the condition of the bovine animals housed at the shelter and also created challenges for management. This also impacted the administrative measures to deal with menace of stray cattle in the city. On its saturation the Hingonia gaushala was unable to accommodate for new stray cows detained by the authorities. An extension of the cow shelter is expected to offer a solution to the issue.
“It is also being contemplated that since the Jaipur city is now divided in two municipal zones of Heritage and Greater, the extension may also help assign one cow shelter to each of these municipal corporations,” said an official.
Interestingly, the Hingonia gaushala is also claimed as the largest cow shelter in the state. Yet, it is on saturation as stray cow population continues to register a steep rise. The shelter had little more than 6,000 cows in 2016 when it was handed over to a non-government organisation for management. The population has increased nearly three folds in four years.
“The issue of cow welfare is also of significance as a majority of the local population hold the cows revered and an incident of mass casualties of the cows at the shelter previously had drawn criticism for the state government,” added Shakti Singh, an animal activist.