For the country’s first Cow Minister Otaram Devasi, after manufacturing disinfectant from gomeyam (cow urine) his Gaupalan department has plans for making paper from cow dung.
“We have already started making disinfectant from gaumutra and at the Sawai Man Singh hospital [in Jaipur] it is being used in place of Phenyl. We now plan on preparing paper from cow dung,” Devasi says.
Cow affairs departmentEarlier a part of the Animal Husbandry department, gaupalan (Hindi term for cow care) is a separate department constituted to look into cow affairs. It was formed as a result of Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje’s promise to people during her election campaign.
However, the gaupalan department seems toothless in matters of cow care in the badly-run cow shelters across the State.
Speaking of Hingonia Cow Rehabilitation Centre, a helpless Devasi says, “I too have to approach the government when people complain about the functioning of Hingonia. It doesn’t fall under my department, but I am the Cow Minister, so people naturally approach me on such issues,” he says.
However, Mr. Devasi has a plan for improving the condition of the cow shelters across the State.
