Bhopal News: Swalambhi Gaushala Plan Remains Distant Dream

Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): Gau Samvardhan Board’s initiative to invite bids for setting up Swalambhi Gaushala continues to face repeated delays. The opening date of tender, earlier fixed for December 22, has once again been extended to December 29.

Before this, tender was scheduled to close in mid-December. Officials of Gau Samvardhan Board said the effort is to encourage participation of more bidders so that a larger number of Swalambhi Gaushalas can be opened across state to accommodate stray cattle.

Earlier, a tender was floated to establish Swalambhi Gaushalas in several identified districts, but it received very few bids. This forced authorities to cancel that tender and issue a fresh one.

The concept of Swalambhi Gaushala has been designed in such a way that a successful bidder will be allotted 125 acres of land to construct a modern cow shelter, where a minimum of 5,000 stray cattle must be maintained. In addition, 5 acres of land will be provided for commercial activities to ensure financial sustainability of cow shelters.

Sources in Gau Seva Board said setting up a modern cow shelter is a costly affair. Bidders are required to deposit an earnest money of Rs 50 lakh. Overall construction cost of a modern cow shelter is estimated to be around Rs 15 crore to Rs 16 crore.

High investment requirement is believed to be a major reason behind limited interest in scheme, which was introduced to tackle menace of stray cattle in state.