A day after,MC staff recount experience enroute Barsana

On Friday morning,when the team stopped near Kulana Chowki at district Jhajjar for providing fodder to the cattle,people started assembling around the trucks. After the convoy moved for about five kilometres at Lahori village,a mob stopped the trucks. As many as 16 trucks were torched. Seven trucks that were carrying 48 heads of cattle had left earlier and reached Barsana.

On Saturday,Municipal Commissioner Vivek Pratap Singh said that the officials showed all the documents to people leading the mob,sarpanch of Lahori and police officers present at the spot. In the mean time,more people started gathering and started pressing the team of officials and truck operators to shift the cattle to the cattle shed at Farukh Nagar. Some of the gathered men threatened the team and board the trucks for taking the cattle to Farrukh Nagar Gaushala.

The local police was escorting the convoy. Enroute Farukh Nagar,another mob gheroed the trucks and started beating the officials of MC,the staff as well as the truck drivers. They also started breaking the windowpanes of the trucks and damaging them. The trucks were then unloaded and set on fire.

Joint Commissioner Rajiv Gupta said one of the staff members suffered a heart attack,one of the sanitary inspectors was assaulted,while another suffered injury on his head. The arm of one of the drivers was broken.

“Till yesterday,we were not sure about the whereabouts of all members of the staff. Now we know that they are all safe,though some have received injuries. One of the trucks about which there was no information has been found. The driver managed to take it away safely,” he said

A cattle catcher,Jatinder,while recounting his experience said the mob was not willing to listen to anyone. “Everyone ran wherever we could find space. Someone hit me with a stick and I received injury on my foot. There were others who ran into the fields,” he said,still shaken by the experience. Another cattle catcher,Sandeep,had a similar tale to recount.

MC says drive will continue

The municipal Commissioner stated that the drive to catch stray cattle would continue. He said the strategy for the future would be planned in the coming days. Meanwhile,the cattle that was caught from Shahpur is likely to be released as the owners had permission to keep them. The Commissioner added that they would be given notices to send the cattle out as it is not allowed to keep them in the municipal limits. Mayor Subhash Chawla said that the staff was in a state of shock and the drive would be revived soon.

‘Barsana too far away’

Mayor Subhash Chawla said that other options were being considered apart from sending cattle to Barsana,which is far away. The cattle pounds in nearby areas were demanding up to Rs 6,000 per cattle head,in addition to daily charges. A proposal was mulled over to send cattle by train to Barsana. However,the logistics did not work out.

BJP LEADERS CONDEMN INCIDENT,MEET UT ADVISOR

The Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday demanded a judicial inquiry into the incident where trucks that were transporting cattle to Barsana were torched. The party reiterated its demand for holding a special meeting of the General House for framing a policy on catching of stray cattle and sending them out. The party has also demanded that Mayor Subhash Chawla should resign.

Party leaders met Punjab Governor and UT Administrator Shivraj V Patil and handed over a memorandum to him demanding that the municipal corporation (MC) be instructed to hold a special meeting of the House. The memorandum states that the unplanned movement of cattle by the MC led to the incident,saying that it has put a question mark on the working of the MC under the present Mayor.

Demanding a judicial inquiry into the matter,the party further said that a proper policy should be framed; pick-and-choose should not be adopted in catching cattle. The BJP members also complained that the officers of the local administration turned a deaf ear when they raised the issues with them. In the memorandum,they stated that the nominated councillors should not play in the hands of the Congress and play their role as the advisor.

In a press conference held later,leader of BJP in the House Arun Sood condemned the incident. “The accountability for this should be fixed. There was negligence on the part of the MC officials. No senior officer who was authorised to take prompt decisions was sent with the trucks. There was tension in the area for the past few days. The MC should have taken this into account and sent cattle through a different route,” Sood said.

He further said that the administrations of the places from where the trucks were to pass should have been taken into confidence. The district administrations could have sent escorts. Sood further said that if the Mayor cannot handle the situation,he should resign,adding that both human life as well as that of cattle was important.

Mayor hits back

Mayor Subhash Chawla,at a conference held on Tuesday,stated that the BJP has been opposing all the decisions taken about stray cattle. He said that in a meeting of the House held in April,he brought up an agenda for discussion on policy to sent stray cattle out. The BJP councillors had then stated that they would not allow cattle to be sent out.

Chawla added that later when a committee was constituted,comprising members of BJP,to inspect cattle pounds where cattle could be sent,they refused to do that. “The BJP is making most of the opportunity. In the past too they have opposed most of the suggestions,” he said.

Space constraint for keeping stray cattle would be a problem in the coming days. The MC does not have enough space to accommodate the cattle,especially if more are caught. There is also an apprehension that cattle from the neighbouring towns of Mohali and Panchkula are also released in Chandigarh,he said.

The Mayor also appealed to the religious organisations to come forward to extend help.