Vishav Bharti
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, July 8
With the last office-bearer, vice-chairman Dargesh Kumar Sharma, demitting office last week, it seems to be the end of the road for Punjab Gau Sewa Commission. Sharma’s term ended last Wednesday.
The three-year term of chairman Keemti Bhagat and eight members ended more than a year ago. Since then, the commission comprised two veterinary doctors, clerical staff and vice-chairman. With the latter also demiting office last week, the commission has become defunct.
On the insistence of the RSS, the commission came into existence in 2015 with a law in the Assembly. The objective was conservation and propagation of indigenous cow breeds and managing stray cattle. Since then, the government has spent Rs 3 crore on pay and perks of office-bearers and other staff, but failed to achieve any objective.
In the past one-and-a-half years, no significant work was undertaken by the commission. It has been all pay, no work for the two veterinary doctors, who have been designated CEO and deputy CEO , and the clerical staff.
There are over two lakh stray cattle on Punjab roads, often causing accidents, besides damaging crops.
Keemti Bhagat, the former chairman, blamed the Congress government . “It has collected Rs 70 crore as cow cess, which was to be used to put stray cattle in ponds and promote indigenous breeds. But the government has not spent even a rupee all these years,” he said.
Dr Inderjit Singh, Director, Animal Husbandry, said the commission was a monitoring body and it did not have any fiscal powers. “We provide only manpower to the commission. Since there is no office-bearer now, we will bring it to the notice of the government,” he said.
Besides the gau commission, the RSS pushed for several ambitious projects, including establishing a cow pond in each district; starting work on a cow memorial in Joga, where it was claimed cows were slaughtered, and free power for all 472 gaushalas in Punjab.
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