NGO returns charge of cattle pound to Rajkot civic body over allegations of animal deaths
Bhavesh Jakasaniya, veterinary officer of RMC, said that over 700 cattle died during the three months of monsoon beginning June 12.
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The disease causes considerable loss of milk production in the A2 breed of cows. (Representational)Around two years after it took over operations and maintenance of cattle pound of Rajkot Municipal Corporation (RMC) in a first-of-its kind experiment in the state, Jeevdaya Ghar Panjrapole (JGP), a non-government organisation (NGO), on Friday requested the civic body to relieve it from duty starting next week. The request comes in the backdrop of accusations by the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) that an unusually high number of cattle were dying in the pound due to alleged negligence of the JGP.
The chairman of standing committee of RMC said the civic body will accept the NGO’s request. JGP, the Rajkot-based NGO working for jeevadaya (compassion toward all living forms) and welfare of animals, wrote a formal letter to Rajkot municipal commissioner Devang Desai and requested the civic body to relieve it from the Operations and Maintenance (O&M) duties of the cattle pound from October 6. In the letter, JGP underlined that during the two years that it managed the cattle pound, it spent around Rs 2 crore from its own funds to run the operations. “However, we are pained by a malicious campaign by certain people and baseless and slanderous reports by certain media houses, and we will voluntarily give up the management of cattle pound from October 6,” JGP said in the letter.
Earlier, the Gujarat High Court had directed the government to tackle the issue of stray cattle on priority basis. JGP had come forward to help the RMC manage and maintain the cattle pound for which it had signed an MoU with the civic body on October 4, 2022. The MoU was valid for five years. The civic body was providing daily grants amounting to Rs 35 for every calf and Rs 50 for every adult cow or buffalo as daily maintenance grant to JGP while the NGO was responsible for arranging fodder, manpower etc.
The Congress and the AAP submitted separate memorandums recently, stating that a high number of animals were dying in the cattle pound. Jaimin Thakar, chairman of the standing committee of RMC, said:“Jeevdaya Ghar is a respected NGO. But there were complaints about the manner in which it was managing the RMC cattle pound. Now that it has requested to give up the management voluntarily, we will accept it and manage the cattle pound on our own by recruiting veterinarians and caretakers.”
Bhavesh Jakasaniya, veterinary officer of RMC, said that over 700 cattle died during the three months of monsoon beginning June 12. “However, that is a normal average number for monsoon months in any year when the cattle pound has an average 1,200 cattle heads since people abandon their weak and unproductive cattle, which end up here. Mortality rate remains high among such cattle during monsoons due to bad weather,” Jakasaniya said. He said there were 1,200 cattle heads in the pound, adding the RMC impounds an average of 20 stray cattle from city roads every day.
Jakasaniya said that RMC was paying an average Rs 15 lakh to JGP towards cattle-maintenance grant. But Rajendra Shah, trustee of JGP, said that it was not enough. “Every month, we used to spend around Rs 7 lakh from the fund of our organisation to ensure that the cattle were fed properly. However, some (people with) vested interests ran a malicious campaign against us. Therefore, we have requested the RMC to relieve us from the duty of managing the cattle pound,” Shah said.
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