Whose bulls? Stray cattle on roads in Walled City keep causing accidents

Jaipur: Residents in the Walled City complained that number of stray cattle in the streets have increased during the day leading to accidents.
Councillors said that most of the problems are faced during the afternoon and late-night hours when cattle owners leave the animals on the roads. Due to this, tourists are also getting affected.
“There is a pattern in which cattle owners leave the animals on the road. During collection of milk in the morning and evening hours, the owners take the cattle and leave it out on the roads to eat and roam around throughout the day as they do not have space in their houses to keep the cattle. This leads to accidents and adds to the dirt in the city,” said Lalita Jaiswal, councillor of ward 72 near Johri Bazaar.
In this ward, there is a heritage walk developed by the smart city which most tourists are not able to use due to movement of cattle which at several times have hit residents or caused traffic jams as they sit on the road.
“The ward has a nice heritage walk but it is rarely used by tourists as they fear going there due to open stray cattle. Several residents have been hit by cattle and in the past year we must have received at least a hundred complaints, but no action is taken by the authorities on catching the cattle. We call the authorities, but they come and catch just one or two cattle, which does not make any difference,” added Jaisalwal.
Last month, a man had allegedly died after being hit by a bull near Ramgarh Mod intersection under JMC Heritage jurisdiction. Similar incidents of accidents have been reported from other zones too in the Heritage city. In Kishanpole zone, accidents, or attacks due to cattle have been frequent with a child getting injured recently after it was hit by a bull.
“Around two months ago, in ward 74 a child got injured and got eight stitches on his head after he was hit by a bull and fell from his bicycle. There are regular incidents of locals being hit by cattle while walking on the roads, which leads to minor injuries. In a nearby ward, a man was hit a bull and had to get stitches in his stomach,” said Kusum Yadav, a councillor from Kishanpole zone.
She further alleged that after complaints are made to the corporation, the company is responsible for catching the cattle, informs the cattle owners who then take their animals away.
Authorities meanwhile said that bulls from nearby rural areas are left on the streets and not by locals.
“We have a proper system in place and cattle are caught regularly. We are regularly monitoring this process as complaints have increased and taking stricter action. As areas falling under JMC Heritage are closer to some of the rural areas, many such residents leave their cattle in the city once not in use. We try and catch all stray cattle and send them to the cow shelters,” said mayor Munesh Gurjar.