Vijayawada Municipal Corporation to hand over stray cattle to organic farmers

VIJAYAWADA: The Vijayawada Municipal Corporation has mooted a new idea to control the presence of stray cattle in the city. The civic body has decided to hand over stray cattle to organic farmers in and around the city. The officials have already held talks with the farmers who have agreed to take the animals, soruces said. The stray animals pose two major problems: They block traffic and dirty the city spreading trash from garbage bins as they forage for food.

Cattle owners leave the animals on the roads without any supervision. The cattle roam on the roads in search of food. The officials have so far identified around 1,700 stray cattle in the city. They have served notices on 26 cattle owners. The presence of stray cattle is rampant in Satyanarayanapuram, Krishna Lanka, Hanumanpet, Gandhin-agar and Fruit Market. There are around 100 to 120 cattle owners who release their animals on the roads, said VMC assistant veterinary surgeon Attuluri Sridhar. He observed that despite being given many warnings they are not responding properly.

“We are preparing profiles of every animal with their height, colour, size of horns and tail length. All these animals will be photographed if they roam around in public places,” said Mr Sridhar. “We will issue a public notice on Thursday after meeting with the cattle owners. After that the animals spotted on the streets will be sent to the organic farms,” he said.

“We thought of setting up a cattle shed for stray animals but that would cost the VMC money and man power. If the animals are given to farmers they will feed them and the dung and urine will be useful for their farms,” he said. “If the owners want to take the them back they would have to pay the penalty that would be around Rs 5,000,” he said.