IN AN attempt to prevent road mishaps caused by stray cattle on city roads, the Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC) has seized 81 stray cattle and registered four cases against the cattle owners. The seized cattle have been kept at various shelter centres in Gotalawadi and Bhestan in the city. While the four cattle owners who were arrested, were later released on bail, SMC officials said, this is the first time that the civic body has registered a police case against the cattle owners while implementing the drive. Owing to the cattle menace on city roads, the SMC had started a week-long drive from April 21-27. However, the drive has resulted in creating a furor among cattle owners, who on learning that their cattle have been seized by the officials, contacted the Market department of SMC on Saturday, and sought their immediate release. The officials had slapped penalty charges and later, informed the police about them. The areas covered in the drive were Dumas, Athwalines, Katargam, Nanpura, Khatodara, among others. The Surat police department also registered a case against the cattle owners under the Bombay Police Act 90 (A) (1) (penalty for allowing cattle to stray on streets, or on to the public or private premises), with different police stations like Umra, Dumas, Katargam and Chowk bazaar. All the four cattle owners were later arrested and released on bail from police stations. A joint meeting between Surat Police Commissioner Satish Sharma and Surat Municipal Commissioner M Thennarasan was organised at police bhavan on April 12, to discuss on various issues including traffic problems. In the meeting, the Surat police commissioner had assured that if stray cattle are found on the roads, it will be impounded and strict legal actions will be taken. Earlier in such cases, non-cognizable complaints were registered against the owner but with repeated incidents of cattle loitering on the streets in the city, Sharma instructed police officials to take strict action against cattle owners and register a cognizable offence against them. Additional Market Superintendent of SMC Dr. P G Mehta said, “Last year, we seized around 3,700 stray cattle on the streets and received a penalty amounting to Rs 31 lakh. We charge a penalty of Rs 1,650 for one day and add Rs 650 next day onwards, till the cattle are released. For the first time, we have registered a police case against the cattle owners in this drive.” On April 22, when the SMC officials went to impound the cattle in Singhanpur area, a cattle owner, Ajay Rabari, with his supporters “attacked” the cattle squad and “forcefully rescued the seized cattle from the vehicle”. A police complaint in this connection was registered at the Katargam police station. Mehta added, “We call them ‘dairy dons’ and they threaten us and even manhandle our staffers. We have made representations to the police commissioner to deploy police staff so that such conflicts can be overcome. He assured us of providing security cover.”
