SUBHASH MISHRA
Dhanbad Sept. 2: Rescued 65 cows and calves from cattle smugglers have created a catch-22 situation for the management of Katras gaushala in Dhanbad.
The Goushala has already housed 1170 cows against its shelter capacity of 1000. Police on Wednesday evening dumped 65 cows and calves rescued from cattle smugglers at inter-state GT road. The Gaushala management now is in a fix. It can neither keep rescued cows due to lack of space nor refuse them.
The manager of Katras gaushala said Topchachi police dumped 51 cows and 14 of their calves on Wednesday evening. “Gaushala was already crowded with cows and oxen rescued from cattle smugglers. So, the management is in a fix as besides keeping them, arranging their fodder is also a big problem. The Gaushala is already under debt for maintaining fodder for them,” said Kuwarji.
An official of gaushala said when Raghubar Das was chief minister, the state government had fixed Rs 50 per day for fodder per rescued cow. But now the grant does not come timely, he added.
Notably, the district police on Tuesday rescued 65 cows and calves being carried in over dozens of pick-up vans at inter-state GT Road ( national highway-2) under Topchachi police station. Cows were being smuggled to Kolkata from the Buxar district of Bihar in pick-up vans. Police also seized a Bolero car of the smuggler.