Mumbai: After beef was banned in Maharashtra, the state govt. is planning to set up three cattle shelters to house unproductive and aged animals. The long pending anti cattle slaughter bill received the Presidential assent recently
The project will be undertaken on a pilot basis and a proposal regarding it has been sent to the Centre, Agriculture and Animal Husbandry Minister Eknath Khadse said. He conceded the difficulty of managing aged and unproductive cows, bullocks and bulls.
“After the President’s assent to the Bill, people from various organisations working for animal welfare, including those run by Jain community, Gau Raksha Samiti and other NGOs, met me and agreed to take care of unproductive cattle. This has sorted out our problem of sheltering unproductive cattle,” he said.
“These organisations are already sheltering cattle across the state. They have even assured us the government will not have to spend funds as they receive donations from private individuals,” Khadse told reporters here.
He said the state has applied for grants from Centre and the money will be used to set up three cattle shelters on a pilot basis.
“We can receive a grant of Rs 30 crore for each shelter from the Union Animal Husbandry Department. Each of them will have a capacity to house more than 1,000 cattle.”
Meanwhile, to ensure that the ban gets implemented at the ground level, Khadse said police and Animal Husbandry Department will keep a close watch on vehicles ferrying cattle.
