With city shelters full, BMC to shift stray cattle to Puri dist

Bhubaneswar: The Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) has decided to shift 300 head of cattle to Gobinda Godham in Puri as the designated cattle shelters at Jamukoli and Jatni are overflowing.
In view of the men’s hockey World Cup, a massive drive is going on to free roads of stray cows and bulls. So far, 1,340 stray cattle have been shifted from city roads to both the shelters. According to the BMC, 1,000 more head of cattle need to be caught and taken to the shelters. “We have 827 head of cattle at Jamukoli and 513 at Jatni. We will take out 300 of them and relocate to the Godham at Brahmagiri in Puri district so that we have some room left at Jamukoli,” said BMC deputy commissioner Ramesh Jena.
The cattle (bulls and cows) will be shifted in a huge truck in multiple trips and the exercise is expected to be completed in two days. Cattle catching takes place in the city every day after 11 pm so that the drive does not cause disturbance to commuters and affects vehicular traffic.
On an average, a little over 40 head of cattle are being caught and transported to the shelters. Three agencies have been entrusted with the the task and speed up the drive so as to complete it ahead of the hockey event. The BMC has set its sight to complete mission zero-stray-cattle on road by December end.
“I think in another week, the city will be almost free of stray cattle. The change on the roads is showing after the drive and fewer number of stray cattle can be seen on the roads,” Jena added.
Stray cattle take up most of the arteries and drivers have an uphill task negotiating traffic and making sure they don’t hurt any animal. As a result, traffic jams have become a regular sight. Small accidents (bulls hitting the vehicles and vice versa) keep happening routinely. In the 2018 men’s hockey World Cup, cows and bulls within 2km radius of the Kalinga Stadium, the venue of the event, had been shifted to shelters.