Bhadrak: The town dwellers here are habituated to bull fights on the main road and undisturbed regurgitating on the sidewalks and the stray cattle creating this picturesque montage have almost become neighborly since the time they lay siege. People here are becoming unwitting victims of this intrusion and bikers in particular are suffering injuries upon sudden encounters in the night.
Had the town had a ‘kine house’, the stray cattle menace would not have become present serious,” observed some town dwellers who have been vocal with the civic body for not finding resolve.
The roads in Bhadrak town are narrow, and the cattle traffic is turning inconvenience to menace. Bikers, cyclists and even the pedestrians are facing a hard time overcoming this trouble. The bulls and stray cattle are occupying a large portion of the service roads, main roads and roads in front of some government offices.
Several social organisations and citizen forums have been taken up the issue with the district administration and the civic authorities.
Nothing so far has been done to make the town free from stray cattle.
“It has become a habit of some cattle rearers to set the bovines free on the roads, without any serious qualms. Cows that are not milking are habitually left on the streets to fend for themselves. They again find places at cowsheds during their gestation period,” some businessmen pointed out.
Echoing their feelings, others chipped in to expand the list of suffering, “If the stray cattle are taken to a kine house and the owners are made to pay something to get their cows and bullocks freed, then only the menace can be checked to some extent. But the toothless civic body hardly takes any steps against these errant cattle reaers.”
The development and beautification of the street roads largely rest on the district administration, police administration and civic body. “Besides cattle grazing on the roads and streets, another problem that paints the whole picture is encroachment,” said advocate Atish Behera. He further added, “Neither the administration nor the civic body is concerned about getting the roads rid of encroachment.”
According to retired government servant Mrutyunjay Mohapatra, “The humongous traffic problem will remain there till the administration and the civic authority do not wake up to the situation.”
When contacted, tehsildar Pradeep Sahoo who is also officiating as Municipal executive officer said, “There is no legal system in place to control the cattle menace. As we are having staff problem, we cannot depute even one for the specific job of driving the cattle away from the roads.”
When asked about setting up establishment for this problem, his answer was that lack of land availability is always throwing cold water on any planning of finding a solution. “However we are soon going to take steps towards setting up a kine house,” he assured.
PNN