NMC official issued notice for stray cattle menace

NAGPUR: The Nagpur Municipal Corporation seems to have woken up to the fact that stray cattle pose a danger to human life and obstruct traffic flow, especially during monsoons. Taking serious cognizance of reports by TOI regarding cattle menace on city roads and failure of NMC cattle pound wing, standing panel chief Sandeep Joshi has now decided to take stern action against the officials and cattle owners.
Joshi said, "Despite NMC's special squads picking up cattle with two trolleys and transporting them to designated sites, we were unable to check the menace. For this, a show-cause notice has been served to the in-charge of cattle pound (Kanji House) department. The officials were also asked to submit a detailed report regarding action taken against the menace and how many stray animals were trapped by the department last month".
Joshi said, "We are also looking for alternative arrangement such as seeking help from NGOs; self-help groups and other social organisations, which have evinced interest in taking up the job of removing cattle from the roads."
He accepted that the increase in number of these animals in the past few months has aggravated the traffic problem. On most roads in the city, including the national and state highways, vehicle users have to regularly rub shoulders with cows, bulls, buffaloes and stray dogs. "We have also asked traffic police to help us check the stray cattle menace and clear the roads," said Joshi.
TOI recently raised the issue that with rainy season on, cattle blocking traffic on busy stretches across the city has once again become a common sight. Only NMC officials seem not able to see them. Even the traffic police are upset with the NMC for not removing stray cattle as the latter often cause accidents. They too have decided to initiate legal action against cattle owners for letting their animals roam on the roads and disrupt flow of traffic. Actually, the action should have been initiated by the NMC.
NMC sources said civic body was empowered under the Cattle Trespass Act to create special pounds and remove from roads stray animals that pose danger to traffic and human life. However, NMC only took sporadic action. The cattle impounding trolleys remained parked at NMC office many days without being used. Even when cattle are impounded, they are let off with token fine.
The officials also claimed that in the last five years, NMC trapped 14,812 stray cattle from road, or about 10 each day, and recovered Rs 50.48 lakh as fine from their owners. About 390 animals were trapped in the last three months alone, they said.