ROURKELA: Rourkela Municipal Corporation (RMC) seems to have finally stumbled across a credible technological solution to the bovine menace plaguing the city’s ‘smart’ roads. With the failure of kine houses to keep stray cattle confined in a place, RMC has initiated measures to equip all cattle in city with Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags to track owners.
Sources said RMC has issued fresh notice inviting tenders from reputed agencies for supply, installation, commissioning and maintenance of RFID system to keep tabs on stray cattle. The last date for applying for bid is January 9.
A similar notice floated last month was dropped with only a single bidder applying.
Moreover, the kine house at Balughat has operational difficulty and Vedvyas Goshala no longer accepts unclaimed cattle.
The cattle menace is decades old in the city. A Railway Protection Force (RPF) personnel D Kumar (51) was gored to death when his two-wheeler hit a bull near Bisra Square under Plant Site police limits on November 15 two years ago.
A few months earlier, another motor-cyclist had died after hitting a stray animal.
It is known that about two dozen unauthorised large cattle-sheds run commercially with buffaloes. Numerous small cattle-sheds and cattle are kept at individual households for milk.
While the individual owners after milking the animals let them loose to roam on the streets, owners or caretakers of cattle-sheds herd dozens of buffaloes through the streets.
Besides slowing down vehicular traffic and causing traffic congestion, stray animals claim human lives. Commuters, especially motor-cyclists, run the maximum risk.
“We hope RFID tagging would help contain the menace. It will help RMC immediately identify cattle owners and hold them accountable for any traffic nuisance or accident hazard,” said Dr Yeddula Vijay, RMC Commissioner.
“The city administration has also requested Rourkela Steel Plant to allot 20 acres for cattle sheds to keep the bovines at a centralised location without disrupting milk supply and simultaneously address the problem of sanitation,” he added. As per the unpublished animal census, the city has about 10,000 cattle.