Bhopal: Madhya Pradesh government will be privatising India’s first cow sanctuary set-up by previous BJP-led state government in September 2017, Hindustan Times reported.
Situated in Agar Malwa, about 190 kilometres from Bhopal, Kamdhenu Gau Abhyaranya is the initiative of MP Gau Samvardhan Board. The sanctuary was developed at a cost of Rs 32 crore.
The sanctuary is spread across 472 hectares. The decision of privatisation is due to financial crisis. A government notification will be issued to invite interested players.
“The issues of poor management and regular deaths of cows in the sanctuary have been raised many times. The government tried to improve the facilities but it was getting hard to manage it. Some renowned NGOs like Akshaypatra showed interest in managing the sanctuary at no profit no loss basis. But we will hand over the sanctuary according to rules,” Hindustan Times quoted an official from the Animal Husbandry department.
The officials said, in last one year, more than 600 cows have died due to extreme weather conditions.
A similar initiative of Jaipur Municipal Corporation has been undertaken by Akshay Patra in the outskirts of the city.
Minister of Animal Husbandry Department Lakhan Singh Yadav said, “We want public participation. Here privatisation doesn’t mean to give the sanctuary to a company for making money but we want to allow a social or religious organisation to manage it and serve the cows. The well-qualified organisation knows that non-milch cows are also beneficial in many aspects.”
MP Gau Samvardhan Board former chairperson Swami Akhileshwaranand Giri said, “I support the decision as it is almost impossible for a government to run a sanctuary. Even, BJP-led state government was thinking over this idea.”
BJP spokesperson Rajneesh Agrawal, however, said, “The Congress-led state government is trying to shed the responsibility from every big project, which was started by the previous BJP-led state government.”
