Har to ask panchayats to take land on lease for cattle

With an aim to providing shelter to stray cattle, the Haryana government has decided to ask the panchayats to take 'gaucharan' (grazing) land on lease for cattle protection.
An one-time assistance of Rs 5,000 per cow will be provided for building infrastructure for those organisations which adopt at least 100 stray cattle, state Agriculture Minister O P Dhankar said after a meeting to review progress of the 'Gauvansh Sanrakshan and Gausamvardhan' here today.
The meeting was chaired by Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar.
About 71,000 acre of land is available in the state for cattle grazing out of which cultivation is being done on one- third of the land.

He said 25 yard of land per cattle would be given on lease for making provision for shelter and 100 yards per cattle would be given for providing fodder.
The minister said according to the Animal Census of 2012, there were about 1.17 lakh stray cattle in Haryana.

Apart from this, nearly one lakh animals were kept in more than 400 'gaushalas' (cow sheds). Tagging of every cattle is also being done, he said.
"It has been decided to ensure management of stray cattle at places where they are found. If any person leaves his cattle at a gaushala, he has to deposit Rs 5,100 with the local authorities, otherwise a fine would be imposed," Dhankar said.

Over two years ago, the Haryana Assembly had passed 'Gauvansh Sanrakshan and Gausamvardhan Bill'. The stringent cow protection law attracts a rigorous imprisonment ranging from three to 10 years.
Meanwhile, Dhankar said Yamunanagar, Fatehabad and Mewat districts has become free of stray cattle.
"We have decided to make the entire state stray cattle- free and work is being done in this direction. The model of Fatehabad district, which is the best, will be adopted in the other districts," he said.