Sanctuary for stray cattle to come up in Muzaffarnagar: Sanjeev Balyan

In a bid to resolve the problem of stray cattle, the Centre has decided to build a cow sanctuary in Purkazi block of Muzaffarnagar, Union minister Sanjeev Kumar Balyan said on Sunday.

The proposed cow sanctuary will come up at Meghachandan village and will be spread over 70 hectares of government land. It will be sheltering more than 5,000 stray cattle, he said.

Balyan, who is a minister of state for Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, said that the cow sanctuary in Muzaffarnagar will start as a pilot project.

"My target is that this should be ready in the next 3-4 months, and in the next six months, no stray cattle should be seen on streets or farms of Muzaffarnagar, and all of them should be inside the cow sanctuary," he said.

The Union minister noted that small cow shelters (gaushalas) have failed to address the problem of stray cattle, which was raised by the Opposition to target the BJP in the 2022 UP Assembly election.

Balyan said that the cow sanctuary will be handed over to the state government for maintenance.

If the pilot project proves to be successful, some more cow sanctuaries will be built in the state, he said.