Stray animals a bane for Faridabad administration

Bijendra Ahlawat

Tribune News Service

Faridabad, November 12

The district administration’s ‘struggle’ to get rid of the stray cattle menace is not over yet. Hundreds of cattle still roam freely on the city roads, making a mockery of the administration’s claims made from time to time.

“Though the local authorities had announced August 18, 2017, as the deadline to remove all stray animals from the roads, it has been over a year since then and the problem continues to persist,” said Baljit Sihag, a resident of Sector-16. Claiming that the drive was perhaps limited to papers only, he said the number of stray cows and dogs was huge and a cause of acute inconvenience.

Kusum Chaudhary, a resident of Sector-8, said she had to be hospitalised for several days when she suffered head injuries due to an attack by a cow near her house on October 21, 2017. She had failed to shed the fear of these animals till date.

“We are in the process of making the city free of stray cattle and under the drive, the administration has come up with several cow shelters,” said CD Sharma, Senior Sanitary Inspector.

Cow shelters are located at Mothuka, Mohna, Fajjupur Khadar, Newada Tigaon, Pyala, Bhopani and Kheri Gujran villages, besides three cow shelters operating at Mawai, Unchagoan and Surajkund, located within the Municipal Corporation limits. Admitting that over 1,000 stray cattle roam on the city roads, sources in the Municipal Corporation said 400 to 500 cattle are released on daily basis by their owners running diaries in nearby villages, resulting in the menace.

Though a total of 1,650 stray cattle were identified last year, the officials concerned have no data this time. Both the DC and the Municipal Commissioner remained unavailable for their comments.