The city will grapple with the cattle menace for a few more months as the Greater Chennai Corporation has not taken steps to build a new shelter for captured stray cattle.
When the Budget for 2024-25 was presented, Mayor R. Priya announced that a cow shelter would come up in the southern region. The Corporation cow shelters function at Pudupet and Perambur. The civic body, she said, was planning to put in place a system for registration of cow sheds across the city.
After talks with stakeholders and cow-owners, the Corporation will formulate a method for the process; but, as of now, the specifications, including the location for the new shelter, are yet to be finalised, sources say.
To curb the menace, the civic body increased the fines for letting animals loose on the streets after the Council passed a resolution in September 2023. The penalty for the first offence, when stray cattle are impounded, was increased from ₹2,000 to ₹5,000 and the maintenance for the animal was hiked from ₹200 to ₹1,000 a day. The penalty was ₹10,000 for repeat offenders. But the menace persists.
Living in fear
For 20 years, Madharavam residents, in ward 30, have been living in fear of stray cows in the area, avoiding the dung patted across the sidewalks, says D. Neelakannan, president, Federation of Madhavaram Resident Welfare Associations.
“The owner ties the cows outside his home because he doesn’t have a shed. When confronted, he would ask us not to report to the authorities as it was his livelihood. Yet, we inform the Corporation. Catchers do take the cattle away, but they are returned the very next day, and the menace persists. Over the years, children and the elderly have been attacked,” he says.
A problem of decades
The problem of stray cattle has persisted for over three decades, especially in areas like Triplicane, Mylapore, Valasaravakkam, and Ambattur.
In January this year, Chandrasekhar, 63, died after he was knocked down by two buffaloes near Velan Theatre at Nanganallur. Subsequently, the Corporation captured over 10 cows in the area.
Last year, 4,237 cattle head were impounded and a fine of ₹92.63 lakh was imposed. So far this year, 13,760 cows have been impounded, with many of them caught in Zones VII (Ambattur), IX (Teynampet), and XI (Valasaravakkam), says Corporation veterinary officer J. Kamal Hussain.
“In March alone, 208 cows were impounded by the Corporation and 32 so far in April. Along with the police, we have been informally instructing the owners, amid the Lok Sabha election work, to control the cow population on the streets. We held talks with them several times,” he adds.
Space, a problem
Under the Corporation’s regulations, each owner must have a 36-square foot area for a cow. But space constraints in the city do not help, according to cattle-rearers. S. Muthukrishnan, alias Suruli, 40, a cow owner at Koyambedu, says roughly 400 people are rearing cattle in and around the Koyambedu market area. “Cows and buffaloes also need to be taken for a walk. Some owners take them to the beach, but not all can. I own 20 cows, which are tied under the flyover at the Kaliamman Koil Junction because I do not have space for a shed. With residential areas increasing, cattle-rearing gets more difficult,” he says.
“There are many at the Koyambedu market, Divya Nagar, Valasaravakkam, Kundrathur, and Arumbakkam. I employ three persons. Similarly, many would be employed for cattle-rearing across the city. If the Corporation captures the cows often, our livelihood will be affected. We are uneducated and know no other job. We need space to rear cows or must be allowed to take them for a walk at a few public spaces,” he says.
A health risk
He acknowledges that cows eating plastic, along with vegetable waste, could be a health risk to both the cows themselves and people consuming their milk. But significant action is not being taken to reduce the use of single-use plastic, which is causing this problem, he says.
Meanwhile, cow-catchers are also facing difficulties: they have been temporary workers for a decade and are paid a low salary.
“We do get hurt while capturing cows. Many owners threaten us and use objectionable words while we take away the stray cows. Some have broken into the shelter to take away their cows,” says a cow-catcher at Thiru.Vi.Ka Nagar.
Furthermore, no catchers were recruited recently. Hence, they are short-staffed. There are 25 cow-catchers working for the Corporation under the National Urban Livelihoods Mission. Mr. Hussein says formal training sessions were arranged for the catchers and five new vehicles were bought recently.
