Wednesday 1 August 2012

Trichy corporation mulls ban on animal-rearing

TRICHY: The Tiruchirappalli corporation's latest craze is to catch stray cows that, in the absence of tender shoots in the county, poke their noses into corporation dust bins. This menace not only hinders traffic, but spreads health hazards, the corporation was told at an emergency meeting on Tuesday.

Corporation commissioner V P Dhandapani told the council that he had ordered a survey of stray cows in infested areas and if possible, to effect a complete ban them on them within city limits. While a member, M Mohammed Musafa, wanted the corporation to punish even those who habitually fed stray cows because it was they who encouraged health hazards, the commissioner assured the house that he was in favour of banning all domestic animals within the corporation limits and appealed to members in the House to cooperate with him. Mustafa also told the council that it was a practice with some people to feed cows with Chappati packed with jaggery.

The corporation has always been on the back foot when it came to fighting the menace of stray animals, particularly cows. In September last year, the corporation, in an attempt to fix responsibility on owners of cattle, fined them Rs 500 for letting loose their cattle on road. Special teams comprising corporation's veterinary doctors, sanitary inspectors, fire brigade personnel, forest officials, local police sub-inspectors and members of NGOs started a drive to clean the city streets of stray bovines but the effort was shortlived.

Today, the commissioner said he was contemplating auctioning stray animals after capturing them. He said a total ban on rearing any domestic animals, pets or otherwise, within the corporation limits was very much feasible with the cooperation of the members of the House. "If you are ready to cooperate, I will implement the government order, which is very supportive," he told the council.

A corporation official who did not want to be named said it all started with the act of feeding cows with Agathi Keerai, a leafy backyard vegetable, in order to seek "divine favours". The religious practice is slowly catching up with Trichiites, and hence herds of cows are unleashed by their owners onto the streets. The most affected areas are century-old Gandhi Market vicinity and places like Srirangam, K K Nagar, and Puthoor Junction Road. Earlier, the corporation's effort to enact a bylaw in 2006 to contain this problem through a specific legislation could not come to fruition.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/madurai/Trichy-corporation-mulls-ban-on-animal-rearing/articleshow/15301094.cms

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