GOVERNMENT TO RECONSTITUTE ANIMAL WELFARE BOARD:CM

GOVERNMENT TO RECONSTITUTE ANIMAL WELFARE BOARD:CM
By Bijender sharma
DHARMSHALA--Prof. Prem Kumar Dhumal, Chief Minister, said that the government was considering reconstitution and strengthening of the State Animal Welfare Board, implementation of the Animal Cruelty Act vigorously and exploring the possibilities of linking the enumeration and registration programme of the domestic animals with the National Rural Employment Guarantee Assurance Scheme. He was presiding over the State Level Meeting convened to formulate future plan for development of ‘Gau Sadans’ in association with the NGOs and charitable trusts in different parts of the State at Dharamshala today. Chief Minister said that the Animal Welfare Board constituted to cater to the welfare needs of the animals would be reconstituted at state level very shortly followed by its branches at all the district headquarters to cater to the animal welfare activities of the respective areas. He said that the Board would act as the facilitator to protect the domestic animals from cruelty and abandonment etc. He said that domestic animals, especially cows, were considered the holy animal and religiously attached to the devotees sentiments. He said that it had been observed that some people were abandoning their domestic animals on finding them useless, which was a practice contrary to the high religious sentiments of the country. He said that the state government had started enumeration of all the domestic animals in the state and every enumerated animal was being tattooed with specific identification mark to ascertain its belongingness. He said that on completion of the process owners of the domestic animals would be held responsible for their abandonment and dealt with as per the legal provisions. He said that where ever required the Animal Cruelty Act would also be enforced to protect the animal from any cruel act commited by any person. He directed the authorities to convene the meeting of the reconstituted Board in the month of April so that future strategy could be chalked out accordingly.Prof. Dhumal said that the state government was exploring the possibilities of linking the enumeration and registration process with the employment generation to the unemployed rural youth under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Assurance Scheme with a view to generate local employment avenues to them. He said that all preparations would be made well before the introduction of the programme in the entire state from coming financial year. He said that protection of the domestic animals was the responsibility of their owners and their abandonment would be viewed seriously by the authorities. He said that identification marks applied to enumerated domestic animals would help in identification of their owners who could be liable to be charged under different legal provisions enacted to protect the animals.Chief Minister said that the state government would be extending all cooperation and help to the NGOs and Charitable Trusts for setting up of more ‘Gau Sadans’ all over the state. He said that efforts would be made to rope in NGOs and Trusts exclusively dedicated to protect the stray animals from cruelty at the hands of wild animals and inhospitable dwelling conditions. He said that 13,144 stray animals had been enumerated all over the state abandoned by their owners. He said that in all there were 42 ‘Gau Sadans’ in the state which included 3 in government and 39 in private control, operated by NGOs and charitable trusts, having capacity for housing about 8,500 stray animals. He said that the state government was prepared to extend all possible help for setting up of more such sadans in private sector to check the astraying of the domestic animals. Prof. Dhumal said that government had already decided to create natural habitat to the monkey in the proposed parks being developed in Shimla and Palampur besides sterlization and captive centres at Hamirpur and other parts of the state with a view concentrate them at such places so that the crop of the farmers were protected from them. He said that government respects the religious sentiments attached to the animal and had appealed to the people cooperate with the government in capturing the monkeys, get them sterilized and keep them in the captive centres developed for the purpose. He said that government was aware of the problem and had accorded top priority to provide relief to the farmers. He said that there efforts would be made to rope in NGOs dedicated at protection of the monkeys to save the crops of the farmers.Chief Minister emphasized the need to maintain strict vigil on the borders of the state so that neighbouring state’s astrayed animals were not transported to the state. He said that it would be the joint responsibility of the local border gram panchayat and police to check the increased number of the astray animals in their area. He directed the revenue authorities to expedite land lease cases for construction of ‘Gau Sadans’ by different organizations in the state.Shri Sukhdev Sharma, President, Gau Raksha Samiti, Hamirpur and Shri Rasil Singh Mankotia, apprised of the various solutions to the problem of astray animals and requested the Chief Minister to personally intervene in the matter.Shri Jagdeep Thakur, Director, Arnaya Vias Samiti, Makdaina, Jogindernagar, presented a draft of Rs. 2,000 towards the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund to the Chief Minister.Shri Bhim Sen, Principal Secretary to the Chief Minster apprised of the government initiatives towards checking the problems of astray animals and monkey menace.Shri Gulab Singh Thakur, PWD and Revenue Minister and Shri J.R.Katwal, Director of Information and Public Relations were prominent among other NGOs from all over the state.