UP Government is Encouraging CSR Funding for Cow Shelters
Struggling to check stray cows, the Yogi Adityanath government has asked all district magistrates in the state to explore the option of getting companies to run temporary cow shelters as part of their corporate social responsibility obligations.
An order issued by the UP government to all senior administrative officials in districts mentioned this as part of a new policy on how to immediately set up and run temporary cow shelters in the state. “The local bodies can manage and run these temporary cow shelters either at their own level, through self-help groups or with the help of companies falling under CSR,” said the order, a copy of which has been seen by ET.
The order suggested that industrialists be “motivated” to set up big biogas or CNG plants through good use of cow dung and cow urine so that the proposed cow shelters can be made self-sustainable to run. It further said that the construction of the cow shelters could be done by local bodies through funds allocated for the government’s flagship rural jobs scheme MGNREGS, Members of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme (MPLADS) or MLALAD funds. Each such temporary shelter will house 1,000 cows, it said.
The order came after Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath held a review meeting and asked senior officials in districts to ensure all stray cows are taken to cow shelters by January 10. As per an earlier plan of the state government, 104 new and permanent cow shelters will take two months to build. The government has directed construction of temporary cow shelters in all cities and villages in states to house stray cows in the state for the time being.
The order mentioned that there were nearly 20 million crore cattle in the state as per the 2012 livestock census and the population of stray or abandoned cattle had increased over time owing to a variety of reasons. “There is a need to reduce the increasing number of abandoned/stray cattle, hence this policy to set up temporary cow shelters all over the state has been drawn up to address this burning problem,” it said.
It spelt out five objectives as part of the new policy – providing shelter to abandoned cattle, ensuring food and care of the cattle at temporary shelters, along with vaccination and medical care, using sex-sorted semen technology on female cattle at the shelter for assisted reproduction of female calves and making these shelters self-sustainable by sale of milk, cow dung and compost.
Source: (Economic Times)
