Goemkarponn desk
CANACONA: With no one stepping forward to take the responsibility to keep the roads safe during nighttime, hoards of cattle are taking over the roads in Canacona during the night, inconveniencing the commuters and increasing the risk of potentially losing lives of both in case of accidents.
Over frequent complaints from locals, this correspondent inspected the roads in Canacona taluka and found herds of cattle squatting in the middle of the roads jeopardising their own lives and those utilizing the roads at night.
Since Canacona taluka is an agrarian society, farmers domesticating cattle like cows, oxen, buffaloes, and goats was a common practice in the past.
While cows and she buffaloes were reared for the production of milk and reproducing offsprings, the bulls were used to plough the rice fields in the taluka during both Rabbi and Kharif season.
It was also common to see these bulls separate paddy from the straw.
But with the advent of machinery like tillers and threshers, the bulls became much of a liability than an asset.
With the cattle now becoming a burden, they are abandoned and settle on the roads during night, hindering traffic flow and creating dangerous scenarios and near-accident situations.
The menace persists notwithstanding the local self-governing body’s efforts to check the problem that locals complain about.
The night hours are when the general public mostly confront the threat posed by these animals, complained many.
When this correspondent asked a farmer who still owns few cows and bulls why people leave their cattle astray to fend for themselves in current days, he informed that it doesn’t make economic sense to continue domesticating these animals.
You need a cowshed, a shepherd, cattle feed and medical attention to domesticate them; it’s not easy or cheap to have cattle, and the most practical thing for the farmers is to abandon their cattle.
Now farmers get mechanical farming equipment at a meagre price due to government subsidies, so the bulls used for agricultural purposes are no longer an asset but a considerable liability, he further elaborated.
Many environment activists blame the absence of grazing areas and the greenery in the forest limits for the free-roaming of cattle in public places.
Grazing areas have depleted. There is no surprise at cattle on the roads in Canacona, says, a young environmental activist who wishes not to identify himself.
Prabhat Amolkar, a progressive farmer who left his lucrative job on a ship as a marine engineer to continue his family agricultural business, speaking to Goemkarponn informed that the world is evolving, and if one doesn’t keep pace with the times, then he is out of the race.
And with the labour cost shooting over the roof, it’s natural for the farmers to go for mechanisation, as owners of small landholdings growing paddy is not a commercial activity. But still, it is only done not to keep the field fallow and keep the tradition going forward, he said.
“Domestic cattle turning stray was the significant fallout of this entire process called mechanisation. It is high time the government starts thinking that they have to come up with legislation to take care of the stray cattle that are now left to fend for themselves after serving our community,” he said.
Amolkar said that the cattle used to be tied in the sheds after dusk in the past, the shed protected them from rain, and the floor was dry and smooth.
“Today there are no cow sheds, and these animals have to roam in the village and roadsides for food during the day, they find the roads smooth to squat and masticate the food during night time, the second reason why they prefer to squat on the road is the turbulent movement of air whenever a vehicle passes help them get rid of insects which otherwise trouble them during the night” Amolkar emphasised.
With neither the local elected bodies nor the police owning up the responsibility to clear the roads in the taluka of these cattle menace, it’s taking a toll on both commuters and the cattle themselves.
Last year a four-wheeler met with an accident as his car hit a herd of cattle on the middle of the road at Char Rasta, while the other occupants of the ill-fated car got seriously injured, the driver tragically lost his life.
Mishaps occurring due to stray cattle is a frequent phenomenon on Canacona roads; last week saw four cows dead when they were run over by a vehicle.
Till now, no one has given serious thought to this life-threatening issue
claimed Anil Bhagat, a senior citizen from the taluka.
It’s also common to see injured stray animals beside roadsides suffering for days till they die a cruel and painful death Bhagat informed.
As police are one of the department who is responsible for safety and security of the public 24X7, they should take it upon themselves to see that the stray cattle doesn’t create a nuisance to the motorists and drivers and allow safe passage to the commuters at night said a local on the condition of unanimity.
The deputy collector, the head of the taluka administration, has to take note of this issue and direct his subordinates to put a permanent solution in place so that neither the stray cattle nor the commuters are adversely and fatally impacted by each other, he concluded.