There are 5633 abandoned cattle in 24 government cow shelters in the state. This information was given Minister of State for Animal Husbandry, Rekha Arya in an unanswered question during the first day of special session of assembly on Monday. In response to a question by the Salt MLA, Surendra Singh Jeena who sought to know about the status of the stray cattle in the state and the damage caused by them to the crops, the minister said that the state government has increased the grant for the registered cow shelters. She informed that a budget of Rs 2 crore is proposed in current financial year for the cow shelters and a sum of Rs 62.43 lakhs for 22 cow shelters has been released as first installment.
In addition to it a grant of Rs 72.04 Lakh has been released for construction of 10 cow shelters. Incidentally the state government had provided a sum of Rs 52.36 lakh to cow shelters in the year 2017-18. The minister contested the claim of Jeena in which he said that stray cattle are destroying the crops and said that in rural areas the stray animals are not much in numbers as cattle rearing is practiced in the rural areas to supplement the income of the family. The minister’s reply stated that there are 2006053 bovines in the state. She said that a total of 85045 animals have been identified and registered under a project of the Uttarakhand Livestock Development Board.
