Villagers found animal parts on the ground and after digging found five cows and they claimed that one of them was alive.
Iglas: After villagers in Aligarh district in Uttar Pradesh herded more than 700 stray cows and bulls inside the 12 school compounds to save their crops, the situation continued to remain tense as more than a dozen cows were reportedly buried alive in Iglas locality.
The district administration and police authorities of Aligarh went into overdrive with the recovery of a dozen cow carcasses, believably, buried alive, near a canal on Aligarh-Mathura Road on Thursday morning.
Remains were dug out following information by a resident who found the animal parts popping out of the ground.
After the police authorities recovered the carcasses, a post-mortem examination was conducted which confirmed that the cows died of asphyxia.
As per the sources, Villagers found animal parts on the ground and after digging found five cows and they claimed that one of them was alive when the police reached the spot.
A resident told Times Of India on the condition of anonymity that the police personnel who initially arrived at the scene sent the five dugout cattle to the veterinary hospital and wanted to leave after cleaning the spot. However, they brought a JCB after angry villagers demanded that more area with loose sand should be dug up. The operation led to the recovery of seven more cows.
“Villagers of Iglas are up in arms against the administration for its failure to resolve the stray cattle menace. Residents say that ever since the Yogi Adityanath government imposed a ban on cow slaughter and ‘cow vigilantes’ are on the rampage, there has been a phenomenal increase in the population of non-lactating, old and ailing cows deserted by their owners. These animals have been destroying crops, leading to resentment among farmers,” the report added.
Abhimanyu Singh, who owns 20 bigha land in Iglas area, said that the farmers can’t afford to feed non-productive cows and no one wants to buy them because of the fear of “gau rakshaks”. “We respect cows, but they are damaging crops,” Singh said, adding that stray cattle had become a huge nuisance. “Farmers have been facing problems for the past year, but now the situation has worsened. The government must take corrective measures,” he said in the report.
The DM claimed that around 2,000 cattle were shifted to 12 gaushalas in the past three days.
Cow vigilantes from the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Bajrang Dal and Hindu Yuva Vahini blocked a state highway, protesting the death of a dozen cows the previous night near the Iglas area.
“We got the information from some local people that not all the cows were dead. Some of them were buried alive. We can’t tolerate this kind of cruelty on cows,” said Dharma Bhaiya, district in-charge of the VHP in a report by Economic Times.
However, both District Magistrate (DM), Aligarh, CB Singh and SSP Ajay Kumar Sahni denied that the cows were buried alive. He claimed that they were dead animals which were buried two days ago. The DM also claimed that autopsy of the bovines established their death two days ago. However, he cautioned against rumour mongers who wanted to vitiate the atmosphere.
Meanwhile, the residents of Iglas have raised the issue of increase in the population of stray cattle which was causing inconvenience to them. Besides destroying the crops, non-lactating, old and ailing cows lead to other problems in the area. However, the ban imposed on cow slaughter by the authorities and pro-active cow vigilante groups has made life difficult for residents.