Yogi suspends 8 officials for cow deaths in UP

Lucknow

Reacting against the escalating number of cow deaths in bovine shelters, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has suspended eight officials.

The suspended officials included the chief veterinary officer of Mirzapur and three other government vets in Ayodhya.

Along with the suspensions, Adityanath on Sunday night also issued a stern warning to officials to maintain cow sheds or face the music. Following the death of 36 cows at shelters in Ayodhya and Pratapgarh on Saturday and 35 bovines in Prayagraj on Friday, Adityanath convened a video conferencing with all 75 District Magistrates and warned that cow deaths would invite immediate disciplinary action.

He also said that owners who abandon cattle on streets after milking them will be punished.

Civic authorities in Lucknow, too, were put on notice that if they failed to curb stray cattle menace on streets, they would face action.

Shocking video clips of cow carcasses lying on marshes at an Ayodhya shelter and the subsequent outcry from seers of the temple town angered Adityanath, according to sources.

The Commissioner and District Magistrate, Mirzapur, were asked to probe into circumstances that led to cow deaths in the district.

The Chief Minister also asked the Prayagraj Commissioner to probe the deaths and recommended action against officials responsible for the maintenance of cow shelters, where trapped bovines died after an electric pole fell on the waterlogged shelter.

Amidst protests by farmers and people over cattle trampling upon crops or triggering accidents on streets, the Yogi government had directed all District Magistrates to rehabilitate abandoned cows in new shelters, while announcing a budgetary corpus for protection of the bovines.

On Sunday, the Chief Minister said that panchayat officials will be taken to task if cows were herded on school campuses.