State Launches Its First Sanctuary for 5,000 Cattle

Built at Rs 62 crore, facility aims to tackle stray cattle menace, enhance farmers' income; 200 people given jobs, say officials

- HT Correspondent

Spread across 50 acres of forest land near a village in Muzaffarnagar district, Uttar Pradesh now has its first cow sanctuary that can accommodate up to 5,000 cattle, animal husbandry officials said. Built as part of the Rashtriya Gokul Mission by the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB), the facility, located in the Purkaji area of the district, will be operated by the Govardhan Cow Service Committee. Its objective is to tackle stray cattle menace, and promote livestock development, farmers' welfare and rural entrepreneurship, the officials added.

At present, the state has over 14 lakh stray cattle (1.30 lakh in urban and semi-urban areas) housed across 8,381 conservation centers, according to government data. Also, 12.50 lakh stray cattle were housed in 7,713 rural cow shelters, the government had said last month.

The Muzaffarnagar facility's official inauguration was held on Tuesday in a ceremony attended by Union minister SP Singh Baghel and state cabinet minister (animal husbandry and dairy development) Dharampal Singh. The cow sanctuary, at present, shelters around 2,300 cattle gathered from villages of Muzaffarnagar, they said, adding the project was built at Rs 63 crore.