MC to send 200 impounded cattle to Delhi

CHANDIGARH: The Municipal Corporation (MC) will be dispatching about 200 impounded stray cattle from its cattle pound and gaushalas to another gaushala in Delhi on Wednesday.
A MC source told TNN that the move would ease the already full cattle pound and gaushalas in the city. It would also help the civic body to impound more stray cattle from the streets of the city and keep them at the cattle pound.
The MC action to send the impounded cattle to Delhi gaushala comes in the wake of promises made by the civic body''s chief engineer M K Khanna to senior citizens, who raised the issue during a Times Connect event on Thursday last.
Stray cattle menace had reared its head once again here recently claiming the life of lady from Delhi, who had visited her relatives in the city.
The cattle catching effort had slowed down in the last three months, mainly due to space constraint at Sector 25 and 45 gaushalas and the industrial area cattle pound. However, the MC''s Health Office carried out a drive against milch cows, horses, mares and pigs reared illegally within the MC limits by residents of colonies recently, impounding about 90 cattle heads.
An MC official said the gaushalas and the cattle pound had the capacity to lodge about 700 to 800 cattle heads. On Tuesday, there were about 750 cattle heads in the gaushalas and the cattle pound. The MC''s efforts to get a new gaushala set up in Maloya continue. Khanna said the MC had sent about 1,000 cattle heads to Delhi''s Dabur Hare Krishna gaushala last year and its drive against the stray cattle would continue.
Meanwhile, the MC also expanded the space available at the Sector 45 gaushala to accommodate 200 more cattle heads impounded by the Health Office cattle-cathers.