Rs 98.5 crore for cow shelters allocated

Lucknow: The Yogi Adityanath government has for the first time proposed an allocation of Rs 98.5 crore in the Uttar Pradesh budget for operating shelters for stray cows across the state.

"To overcome the problem that farmers are facing due to stray cows, the government has decided to open gaushalas (cow shelters) in a phased manner across the state," chief minister Yogi Adityanath said after finance minister Rajesh Agarwal presented the state budget here on Friday.

According to officials of the state government, initially, cowsheds will be opened in urban areas and thereafter at the tehsils and villages.

Farmers are affected by stray cattle which damage standing crops.

The chief minister had announced earlier that the government will open shelters for stray cows, the number of which was said to have shot up after a crackdown on illegal slaughter houses. The crackdown was launched after the Yogi government assumed office on March 19 last year.

"We have saved cows from slaughter and now we will find a way for their proper rearing," the CM had said at an event in Vrindavan earlier this month, while laying the foundation stone of the Mahamana Gau Gram scheme.