Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has ordered the suspension of the district magistrate of Maharajganj   and five other officials for negligence in cow protection.

Announcing the suspension  at a press conference here on Monday, Chief Secretary RK Tewari said the government was getting continuous complaints about negligence in the upkeep of stray cows in Madhvaliya cow shelter in Nichlaul tehsil of Maharajganj district.

“The government constituted a committee under the chairmanship of Additional Commissioner (Administrative) of Gorakhpur Division. The committee found several anomalies in the number of cattle during probe. Official documents showed the number of cattle as 2,500, but during physical verification only 954 cattle were found in the cow shed. Besides, it was also found that the officials had given 328 acres out of total 500 acres of land of the cow shelter to farmers, firms and other individuals in illegal manner,” the Chief Secretary said.

 He said that during investigation, the accused officers could not give satisfactory answers to the committee.

“It was also found that in the name of fodder and maintenance of cattle, the number of cattle was deliberately inflated on papers to misuse government funds. This is also a case of financial irregularity,” the Chief Secretary added.

President of Madhvaliya cow shelter and District Magistrate of Maharajganj Amarnath Upadhyay, a nominated member of cow shelter and then SDM of Nichlaul, Devendra Kumar, SDM Satyam Mishra, chief veterinary officer of Maharajganj, Dr Rajiv Upadhyay, and deputy chief veterinary officer Nichlaul Dr VK Maurya were also suspended.

Municipal Commissioner of Prayagraj, Ujjawal Kumar,  has been posted as the new district magistrate of Maharajganj.

Ravi Ranjan, Chief Development Officer of Lakhimpur, will take over in place of Ujjawal Kumar.