NEW DELHI: Pushing further for the protection of cows in the country, the central government has now roped in nine states—which are hubs of cattle smuggling—to evolve a comprehensive plan to effectively deal with smuggling of cattle to Bangladesh.
The Department of Boarder Management has roped in the representatives from Home Department of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Assam, West Bengal, Tripura, Jharkhand and Haryana.
These states along with various central departments have been asked to submit the plan within four weeks, according to a letter circulated to them on August 26 based on a meeting held in the last week.
During the meeting, major issue that came up was the unregulated inter-state transportation of cattle due to which large number of cattle reach at the Indo-Bangladesh Border. There was an emphasis on strict enforcement of law by state agencies in Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana, UP, MP and Bihar.
The representative of Border Security Force was of the view that Task Force at the state-level could be useful for the welfare of cattle.
“The Supreme Court has asked the Centre to frame rules to check smuggling of cattle. All states have been roped in and a joint committee has been constituted to prepare a comprehensive plan to check illegal smuggling on the India-Bangladesh border,” said a representative of the Animal Welfare Board of India, adding that guidelines for the regulation of cattle transportation are already in place and the same could be accepted in this case.
Earlier in 2016, Union Home Ministry has asked the states to take measures to curtail smuggling along borders.
According to government figures, nearly 20 lakh cattle are smuggled to Bangladesh every year and now Border
Security Force has taken measures to check the smuggling.