Cow protection: Parkash Singh Badal warns of action for violating law

Days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi asked the states to act against "self-styled" cow vigilante groups, Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal on Tuesday warned those violating law on the pretext of cow protection of stern action.

He also batted for dairy farmers who are being harassed in the name of 'gau raksha' (cow protection).

On the sidelines of a Sangat Darshan programme in Hoshiarpur Assembly segment, Badal said dairy farming was an allied agricultural activity which supplemented the income of farmers in a big way.

"This allied farming activity which involves cattle-rearing and trading should not be discouraged at any cost," he said, adding that everyone should exercise restraint and permit cattle trade with valid documentation to go on.

On August 1, dairy farmers of Punjab had accused cow protection groups of hurting the Rs 2,500-crore cow-breeding business in the state, alleging that their flourishing business of selling high-yielding cows to other states had come to a halt.

Led by Punjab Progressive Dairy Farmers' Association, they had also accused the ruling SAD-BJP regime in the state of "creating obstacles" such as asking for no-objection certificates (NOCs) to sell cows to other states.

They had given an ultimatum to the government to rollback the NOC norm by August 10 failing which, they had threatened to take to streets.

Replying to a query on Saturday's murderous attack on RSS leader Brigadier (retired) Jagdish Gagneja at Jalandhar, Badal said it was not an "ordinary law-and-order problem", adding that the state police was looking into it and the culprits would be brought to book soon.

He termed the attack on Gagneja a "deep-rooted conspiracy" and refused to elaborate as the probe was going on.

Replying to another query, Badal said the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) would announce the names of its candidates for the 2017 Assembly polls in Punjab "at an appropriate time", adding that "too early" or "too late" an announcement was "not beneficial".

The Chief Minister claimed that the state government had taken a number of "pro-people" initiatives and he personally reviewed the schemes on a regular basis to ensure that the benefits reached the maximum number of people.

He claimed that "almost all" the beneficiaries of these schemes were satisfied with the performance of his government.

Mourning the death of pilgrims en route to Mata Chintpurni Shrine during a road mishap near Chohal on Sunday, Badal announced to double the ex-gratia amount to the next of kin of the deceased from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 2 lakh.