PINAGAWAN (Gurgaon), December 4: The chairman of the Animal Welfare Board of India and former chief justice of Rajasthan, Ghuman Mal Lodha, lashed out at the Haryana government for its inability to curb the growing incidence of cow slaughter in the Mewat region, where around 5,000 cows and calves are being slaughtered daily. He was speaking at a meet organised at Pinagawan, about 90 kms from Gurgaon, on December 1, to promote awareness among the Meos, an illiterate and backward community which depends on cow slaughter for its livelihood.Lodha, while talking to Express Newsline, blamed local political leaders for the continuing violations of the Cow Slaughter Act. ``At the moment government agencies are indifferent to this problem. At times they even act in collusion with the butchers. The leaders lack political will to stop cow slaughter as they want to appease the Meo voters and strengthen their vote bank,'' said Lodha. He added that police officials have expressed their inability to control incidents of cow slaughter because of the interference of certain local leaders.``This is the reason the HVP-BJP government has not constituted a Go Raksha (cow protection) Board. Even the response of the BJP ministers to it was lukewarm,'' Lodha said. He said that the meet was primarily aimed at creating public opinion against cow slaughter in Mewat and to persuade government agencies to implement laws to stop it. ``It will require the creation of a special task force covering the states of Haryana, U.P., Rajasthan and Delhi, so that the killing of cows and their export to other states for butchering can be stopped,'' he added.Lodha further informed the gathering that the Animal Welfare Board was against the export of meat for foreign exchange, adding that the board has given financial aid amounting to Rs four crore to various animal welfare organisations this year.Former Delhi chief minister Sahib Singh Verma, who was present at the meet, urged the Meos to pledge that they would put an end to this practice. Verma stressed the need for mass awakening to achieve this end.
