SHAHJAHANPUR (UP): The district administration in Uttar Pradesh's has asked village heads take care of 10 stray cows and other such animals each to prevent them from damaging farmers' crops.
The administration has made the call under the "Every pradhan, 10 cattle" campaign started by it to bring to safety stray cattle and prevent them from blocking roads and getting into fields.
Officials here said the experiment was started in Shahjahanpur and has been a "great success."
A senior district official said under the campaign, more than 6,000 head of stray cattle have been safely kept in gram panchayats and the campaign is still on to bring more of them under shelter.
Stray cattle have often been reported to be causing damage to crops and triggering road accidents.
Shyam Bahadur Singh, District Chief Development Officer, told PTI that they had been receiving complaints from villagers about stray cattle.
"The matter was taken seriously and this programme involving village heads was formulated," he said.
A meeting of village heads was held here last week in which the scheme was chalked out and they were told to shelter at least 10 stray cattle in their area, Singh said.
Around 6,000 cows and other such animals in 1069 gram panchayats of the district have been brought to cowsheds so far, he said.
He said that the administration has formed teams at the block level and is in the process of expanding the campaign to other villages of the district.
Rampur Barkat panchayat head Manvendra Singh Chauhan, who provided shelter to 18 stray cattle, said that due to the initiative, their menace has come down to a considerable extent.
Brijpal, head of Mauzampur gram sabha, whose village is located on the Delhi-Lucknow national highway, said unclaimed cattle often affected traffic by sitting in the middle of the road.
The situation has improved now because of the campaign, he said.
Allahaganj-based transporter Rajendra Gupta felt happy that the number of stray cattle loitering on national highways in the area has come down, and so have the road accidents.
