Cattle shed relocation to Aarey Colony: BMC to send proposal to state govt’s milk body

Eyeing to make urban areas cattle-free in accordance with a 2006 policy decision, the state government had envisaged a plan to relocate all the city’s existing tabelas at Palghar’s Dapchari. Last month, the state government had appealed to the civic body to aid in the eviction of the cattle sheds. Following this, the BMC had readied a list of 263 sheds housing 9,959 cattle. It was set to issue notices to owners of cattle sheds and initiate action.

However, the plan evoked concerns among cattle shed owners in the district. Pointing to the lack of facilities in Dapchari as well as its long distance from Mumbai, wherein they conduct trade and supply milk, the Mumbai Milk Producer’s Welfare Association flagged that the relocation to Dapchari would take a massive hit on their business as well as spoil the milk.

During a meeting convened with civic officials, the milk producers and cattle owners appealed to the civic body to relocate the tabelas to Aarey Colony instead of Dapchari. According to the milk producers’ association, a letter issued by the Aarey Colony’s CEO pointed to a vacant land in the area, which would be ideal for their rehabilitation.

In a letter to the Additional Municipal Commissioner (city), the association wrote, “Due to long distance and more precisely due to danger of milk being spoiled, it is very inconvenient or impossible to do business with milk from Dapchari.”

“It is also revealed that earlier some people started business at tabela there but they could not succeed due to the place being inconvenient and also having no public density or transportation,” the letter read, requesting for a relocation to a site in Aarey Colony instead.

Taking cognisance of the concerns, a senior official from the BMC told Express that the proposal floated by the milk association is slated to be forwarded to the state government this week. For the record, the land parcels in Aarey Colony fall under the collector and forest department.

Meanwhile, concerns pertaining to the adequate time for safe relocation of cattle was also discussed during the meeting with BMC officials.