Mylapore residents complain of cattle menace; demand shed, but in vain

Chennai: For more than a decade, residents of Mandavelli and portions of Mylapore have been hassled due to cow menace. The cattle owners tie the bovines in residential areas and pavement creating sanitation issues and stench for the people, complain residents.Residents have been demanding cattle shed where the cattle owners can house their cows. But there has been no respite to the problem despite repeated pleas to the local administration and elected representatives. “Mandavellipakam, 6 Trust Cross Street, 13 Trust Cross Street, 2nd Trust Cross Street, 3rd Trust Cross Street, 7 Trust Cross Street , TP Scheme Road and Raja St Extension face the cow menace, causing serious sanitation and hygiene issues,” said Saroj Satyanarayan, social activist and resident of 2nd Trust Cross Street Mandavellipakam. Another resident of T P Scheme Road said that the cows are making the surroundings unclean and unhygienic. “The cattle owners tie the cows to trees outside the houses. The SWDs are filled with urine, dung and fodder and raises a stench. This has turned the area into a big breeding ground for mosquitoes,” said Srinivas (name changed), a resident. Residents said that Mandavelli had been a quiet neighbourhood with retired bureaucrats, advocates, doctors , professors and musicians. “But over the last decade a new breed of rowdyism is happening that residents are unable to control - encroachments of cows, drinking on pavements etc,” he added.In Mylapore too residents face similar problem. On South Mada Street cows are tied on the pavements near the tank bund. “From morning to night the cows are tied there. It is impossible for pedestrians to walk. The stench emanating from the pavement is unbearable,” said a resident of South Mada Street on condition of anonymity.A corporation official said that cattle shed can solve the issue, but there is no space for the same. “These people have been doing this business for almost 30 years and some residents permit them to tie the cows outside their houses. But few others in the same street object to it. We can only nab stray cattle not the tied up ones,” said an official.