New Delhi: India’s first cow sanctuary, opened in September 2017 in Madhya Pradesh, has now stated that it has neither the money nor the manpower to accommodate more cattle.
The Kamdhenu Gau Abhayaranya, located in Salaria village in Agar district, stopped taking in cows in February this year, Indian Express reported, barely five months after it was first opened. “We have stopped allowing cows since February. The sub-divisional magistrates in the region are denying permission for transport,” V.S. Kosarwal, in charge of the sanctuary, told the newspaper.
In addition to taking in and protecting abandoned or stray cows, the shelter was supposed to promote pesticides and medicines derived from cow dung and cow urine.
According to the original plan, the sanctuary was meant to house 6,000 cows in 24 sheds, the newspaper reported. However, buying fodder for the 4,120 cows currently in the sanctuary has depleted all the funds given by the animal husbandry department. “The recurring costs are more than Rs 10 crore but the budgetary allocation is half of that. Nearly Rs 4 crore is spent on fodder. Where is the question of taking up new projects when there is a question mark on existing works?” a source in the department told the Indian Express.
The sanctuary is unable to generate income as the cows housed here are usually too old or sick to produce milk.
Animal husbandry minister Antar Singh Arya told the Indian Express that he had brought up the issue of fund shortage with chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, and that the money would be released soon. According to Arya, the government is also considering whether to hand over management of the sanctuary to an NGO.
Officials also told the newspaper that the sanctuary did not have enough manpower to properly handle the cows. “There have been many mortalities but the number is not alarming because up to 10% mortality is common. Even the best dairy farms report 3% mortality,” a government veterinary officer told the Indian Express.
While the cow sanctuary in Madhya Pradesh, struggling to make ends meet, has closed its doors to any new cattle, the Rajasthan government has announced that it will set up the first cow sanctuary of the state in Bikaner. The government says this sanctuary will house 10,000 cows and be built along the lines of a “wildlife sanctuary”, minister Otaram Dewasi told the Indian Express.