The kin of people killed in attacks by bulls and nilgai will now get Rs 4 lakh compensation as the Uttar Pradesh government has included such instances in its list of disaster incidents.
The state’s Revenue Department issued a notification in this regard this week.
So far, deaths caused due to unseasonal excessive rain, lightning, storm, heatwave, boat accident, snakebite, cleaning of sewer, falling into a borewell, man-animal conflict and drowning are included in the list. A senior UP government official said kin of people who die in such incidents get Rs 4 lakh compensation.
The decision assumes significance as problems posed by stray cattle had given enough ammunition to the opposition to attack the BJP government in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections earlier this year. Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav had frequently raised the problem to attack the BJP government. News clipping shared by him on Twitter claimed that over 11 lakh animals are roaming freely in Uttar Pradesh and two people were killed in March in a bull attack. These also had a picture of two bulls fighting on a road. Yadav tweeted without naming any party or person.
The SP chief had even declared a compensation of Rs 5 lakh for relatives of people killed in such incidents if his party comes to power. Prime Minister Narendra Modi too had promised that the problem will be resolved after the new government is formed. The BJP returned to power for a consecutive term in UP, a feat repeated in the state after over three decades.
In July this year, UP’s Animal Husbandry Minister Dharampal Singh had said the state has 6,222 cow shelters, which had around 8.55 lakh cattle.
While stating that 66,000 shelter-less bovine animals have been rehabilitated in the state since April this year, he said huge cow shelters are being built at the block-level where 400 animals could be kept.
There are 225 such shelters in Uttar Pradesh and the plan is to take this number to 280 by the end of this year, the minister said. ”Livestock is considered above any other possession in Indian heritage. Even among livestock, cows come before any other animal or even gold or property. We are working to provide safety and respect that ‘gaumata’ deserves,” Dharampal Singh had told PTI then.
According to a 2019 data of the Union Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Uttar Pradesh has 11,84,494 stray cattle, the highest in the country.
Besides posing a threat to commuters on roads, these roaming animals also damage crops.
The department has also started a scheme under which people can keep stray cattle at their home or farm and paid Rs 30 per animal daily.
According to the data, around 1.38 lakh stray cattle have currently been accommodated under this scheme.
”A good number of stray cattle are of low milk yielding species, which can be given to poor families who can care for them and get milk,” Singh had said.
