CM Yogi Adityanath suspends 8 officials over increasing cow deaths
As a step against the increasing number of cow deaths in bovine shelters, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has suspended eight officials.
The suspended officials included the chief veterinary officer of Mirzapur and three other government vets in Ayodhya. Along with the suspensions, Adityanath on Sunday night also issued a stern warning to officials to maintain cow sheds properly otherwise they will also have to face similar consequences.
Following the death of 36 cows at shelters in Ayodhya and Pratapgarh on Saturday and 35 bovines in Prayagraj on Friday, Adityanath held a video conferencing with all 75 District Magistrates and warned that cow deaths would invite immediate disciplinary action.
He also said that owners who abandon cattle on streets after milking them will be punished.
Civic authorities in Lucknow, too, were put on notice that if they failed to curb the increasing menace of stray cattle on streets, they would face action.
According to sources, Shocking video clips of cow carcasses lying on marshes at an Ayodhya shelter and the subsequent outcry from seers of the temple town angered Adityanath.
The Commissioner and District Magistrate, Mirzapur, were asked to investigate the circumstances which led to cow deaths in the district.
The Chief Minister also asked the Prayagraj Commissioner to probe the deaths and recommended action against officials responsible for the maintenance of cow shelters, where trapped bovines died after an electric pole fell on the waterlogged shelter.
Amidst protests by farmers and people over cattle trampling upon crops or triggering accidents on streets, the Yogi government had directed all District Magistrates to rehabilitate abandoned cows in new shelters, while announcing a budgetary corpus for protection of the bovines. On Sunday, the Chief Minister said that panchayat officials will be taken to task if cows were herded on school campuses.
(With inputs from IANS)
