gaushalas(EDS: Corrects info on Varda Mehrotra)New Delhi, Jan 20 (PTI) With the Union budget just daysaway, an animal rights body has asked the government toallocate funds for host of animal issues including formaintenance of gaushalas and development of grazing land.
Spelling out their expectations from the budget, theFederation of Indian Animal Protection Organisations (FIAPO)has also demanded increased funds for street animal carethrough the Animal Welfare Board of India among others.
Varda Mehrotra, director of FIAPOa, urged the governmentto allocate special funds for running animal birth controlprogrammes for dogs, funds for regulating slaughterhouses andfor setting up and proper functioning of State Animal WelfareBoards.
Mehrotra said there are nearly 4,000 gaushalas that arefunctional across the country but only a few (maintained byreligious sects or individuals) are in good condition.
"Some of the common problems found in gaushalas includeovercrowding, insufficient feed, inadequate medical attention,communicable diseases being spread to other healthy animalsthrough contaminated air/water/feed etc.
"The government needs to allocate funds for bettermaintenance of gaushalas since they currently house animalsthat no longer give milk," she said in a statement.
She said that nowadays, cattle rearing is mostlydependent on dry fodder and the government should allocatefunds in the development of grazing land to enhance thequality of food for these animals.
Dharmaj gram in Anand, Gujarat, is an ideal example ofdevelopment and maintenance of Gauchar, she said.
The body has also asked for budget for an IntegratedRabies Control Programme, while noting that the problem ofconflict between people and street dogs has been reportedwidely in the past year.
Killing of dogs or relocating them is illegal,unscientific and eventually useless in addressing theconflict, the statement said.
"The government must invest in an integrated programmefor human-dog conflict management.
"This includes an exclusive vaccination programme forstreet dogs, state level monitoring committees for the AnimalBirth Control programme, setting up counselling centers forvictims of dog bites and education programme for schoolchildren on dog bite prevention," she said.
The body also said that the central government must takedue cognizance of illegal meat shops as unhygienic meat cancause tremendous health problems to consumers.
"Funds should be allocated to form local bodies in eachstate to report the suffering of animals in the illegal meatshops and slaughterhouses," Mehrotra said.
The body has also asked for funds to support circusanimal's rehabilitation and subsidies for plant-basedproducts that improve human health, and end animal suffering.
PTI TDS TIRABH.
This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.