Gujarat to reconsider Bill that seeks to regulate stray animals in cities

State BJP president meets CM to apprise him of cattle owners’ woes

Photo for representational purpose. | Photo Credit: GIRI KVS

Barely a few days after a Bill was passed in the State Assembly to control the stray cattle in the cities in Gujarat, protests by the cattle owners in the State prompted the ruling party to announce that the government would reconsider the Bill. 

In the recent Assembly session, a Bill was passed by the State seeking to regulate stray cattle in urban areas. 

The Bill was passed by a majority in the Assembly after a marathon debate in the house. Titled Gujarat Cattle Control (Keeping and Moving) in Urban Areas Bill, 2022, it is aimed at regulating stray cattle in Gujarat’s eight major cities – Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Surat, Rajkot, Gandhinagar, Jamnagar, Bhavnagar and Junagadh – which have municipal corporations, and 162 towns which have municipalities and are notified as urban areas.

However, on Monday, cattle owners or the cattle rearer community launched protests in the urban areas against the new law. 

The Gujarat Cattle Control (Keeping and Moving) In Urban Areas Bill, requires cattle rearers to obtain a licence to keep such animals in cities and towns, failing which they may face imprisonment.

“After receiving representation from the Maldhari, the cattle-rearer community, against the Bill, I met Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel on Monday morning and requested him to reconsider it,” Gujarat BJP president C.R. Paatil said.

“The existing rules to control cattle menace in municipal corporation areas are sufficient, and if the community is ready to follow them properly, there is no need for a new law. I find their demand justified, and have told them the State government will certainly reconsider it,” Mr. Paatil added after a group of community leaders met him on Monday. 

According to Mr. Paatil, he has conveyed the main representations of the community to the Chief Minister and said their request was justified. 

The Bill was passed in the early hours of April 1 after a seven-hour heated debate that started around 6 p.m., with the opposition Congress vehemently opposing it and threatening to launch a Statewide agitation on the subject. 

Following the passage of the Bill, members of the cattle-rearer community have been up in arms against the government, launching a protest and submitting memorandums seeking its withdrawal at every town in the State. 

Under the law, a cattle-rearer will be required to obtain a licence from competent authority for keeping cattle in the eight cities and 156 towns of Gujarat, and the cattle will have to be tagged within 15 days of obtaining licence.

As per the stringent provisions in the Bill, if the owner fails to tag the cattle within 15 days, he will be punished with imprisonment which may extend up to one year or a penalty of ₹10,000 or both.

Moreover, if any official is assaulted or hurdles are created during any cattle catching operation, the responsible person will be punished with jail term of one year along with a ₹50,000 fine.

On the seizure of tagged cattle, its owner will be fined ₹5,000 for the first time, ₹10,000 for the second time, and ₹10,000 and FIR for the third time. 

With rising urbanisation, the limits of cities and towns have expanded, bringing peripheral villages into urban limits which has also brought in the communities engaged in cattle and dairy businesses. 

As a result, the menace of stray cattle also grew as stray cows and other animals are seen obstructing roads and streets in the cities. 

The local communities have demanded that the State or the urban local bodies should provide open space for them to keep their animals that are the main source of livelihood for them.