Leader saving us from cattle menace will be the real chowkidar, say farmers
Villages along the 90-km stretch on Unnao-Rae Bareli road are upset over the issue but the intensity has decreased to some extent after the state ordered caging of stray cattle and deployed the entire district machinery for the job.
A bleary-eyed Ram Kumar Yadav, 55, of Rajni Kheda village in Unnao rues that he is unable to play with his 8-year-old grandson as he has to guard his wheat crop from stray cattle during the night.
Every day, he enters home at around 9-10 am.
“Someone said our Prime Minister calls himself a ‘chowkidar’ (guard). Actually, we are the real ‘chowkidar’ who are forced to guard our crop as the state government has failed to curb stray animal menace,” he says.
With the term ‘chowkidar’ resonating more in the run up to the Lok Sabha elections, villagers say that the leader who will save them from the problem of stray cattle will be the real chowkidar.
Not only in Rajni Kheda, farmers of several other villages say they are spending more time guarding their crops.
“We do not have other cash crop. If you do not guarding the fields for a few hours, stray cattle may destroy it,” says a farmer in Bichhiya village of Unnao.
Aware of political developments, Mohan Yadav of the same village says, “The government has failed in checking cattle menace.”
Villages along the 90-km stretch on Unnao-Rae Bareli road are upset over the issue but the intensity has decreased to some extent after the state ordered caging of stray cattle and deployed the entire district machinery for the job.
Not only stray cattle are worrying the farmers, but aging and unproductive cattle is also a burden on farmers who are already stressed. “Earlier, it was easy to dispose of unproductive cattle but now anyone would fear to touch them,” says Ram Khilawan, a resident of Mangat Khera village.
Claiming that the government’s policies are faulty, he says: “They want to save cows but they are facing torture every minute. It is better they are slaughtered.”
“Of the total five cows we have, three are unproductive but we do not have any option but to rear them,” says Mahanti, 42.
Her son, Shree Prakash says, “Our entire family is in the field to rear cattle and guard a small piece of land which is 4 kms from the village.”
Farmers of Majhkuriya village also claim they are in distress not only because of high input cost and low income but also due to stray cows.
