Bhopal: Cows have raised quite a storm including lynching, deaths and frictions between various communities on many occasions in India recently. However according to Dial 100 data cows have a major contribution among four lakh road accidents that took place in MP.
Both Congress and BJP hold each other responsible for the situation. While, IG Bhopal Jaideep Prasad told Free Press, “Stray animals on roads within the city limits or outside are a major concern in that many have lost their lives and or severed their body parts in such accidents.”
He added, “We are not responsible for anyone including cows for others are sitting on the roads. Local body, panchayat and construction or the maintenance authority on the highway is responsible to control cattle sitting on roads.” Deputy commissioner of Bhopal Municipal corporation Harish Gupta informed that urban development department had already issued orders against squatting on roads.
“It is clear from the order that local bodies are fully responsible in tackling cow on roads. The careless officials should be held responsible for any untoward situation arising out of the lapses, he added. MLAs of both Congress and BJP have raised the issue of stray cattle alleging that they are destroying the agriculture fields and the traffic on roads.
But interestingly the state government is yet to come up with a policy to manage the situation. Congress state media president Sobha Oza alleges “The BJP and its allied wings like Bajrang Dal and Gou Sewak are nowhere to be seen when these cows sit on the roads. Both humans and animals get injured and killed in accidents caused due to stray animals.”
BJP state spokesperson Rajnish Agarwal alleges that former CM Digvijays Singh had allocated the ‘gouchar bhumi’ (land reserved in the villages for grazing) to others. As such the cattle do not have any place to live peacefully.” He also added that MP government is planning to rehabilitate stray cows.
