Bhopal: Even as the Madhya Pradesh government has announced a Rs 250 crore budget for the welfare of cows in the state, a major ruckus has emerged in recent times over their plight in the state. Bhopal-Sagar highway on Monday to understand the situation.
During the investigation, the team tried to find out how many cows were there in the night and also the problems that people faced while driving their vehicles. The team found nearly two dozen cows at one place on the Bhopal-Sagar highway. These cows were sitting on the road causing a major traffic jam.
100 cows died in a month
According to the Animal Husbandry Department, at least 100 cows died in road accidents on state highways connecting six cities in the last month, while the number of cows injured in these road accidents was 295. Last month, at least three cows died every day in road accidents. It may be noted that this figure is related only to the state highways covering Bhopal, Raisen, Vidisha, Sehore, Dewas, and Rajgarh, and not the entire state. The government claims to have 2 thousand cow shelters.
On June 29, the government said that 7500 cows have been freed in the state in the last few days and 1000 people, who were found transporting cows were arrested. From the year 2019 to 2024, there was a 26-fold increase in the funds for cows in Madhya Pradesh.
Earlier cow shelters in the state only used to get Rs 1.5 per day. However, after the Kamal Nath-led Congress government came to power, which lasted a little over a year, increased the money from Rs 1.5 to Rs 20 per cow. After the BJP came to power, it increased the per day amount from Rs 20 to Rs 40 per day. Currently, there are about 2 thousand cow shelters in Madhya Pradesh. The number of stray cattle is around 9 lakh.
