With stray cattle posing threat to vehicular movement on roads, the Odisha government has decided to put reflective stickers on horns of the cattle across the State.
In an order issued to the Regional Transport Officers, State Transport Commissioner Sanjeeb Panda said, “for enhancing visibility of the stray cattle sleeping or standing on roads, it has been decided to put reflective stickers on their horns so that the driver can know about them from a longer distance”.
Although road accidents have claimed 43,000 human lives and left 57,684 people grievously injured in 1,04,713 accidents in the past one decade, no study has been conducted as to how many accidents were caused by the cattle.
“Cattle wandering on roads has become a major headache...Drivers often bump into cattle and meet with accidents while evading them. Quite a high number of accidents can be attributed to cattle straying on to road,” said Mr. Panda.
The recent mishap involving death of 11 persons on the bridge on Mahanadi River near Cuttack has prompted the government for this action. The bus carrying nearly 50 passengers had fallen off the bridge after hitting a buffalo.
The RTOs were directed to take immediate steps to put yellow or red tapes on the horns of cattle. Urban local bodies, NGOs or veterinary department could be roped in for the job, he ordered. The RTOs have also been directed to submit action taken reports by December 20.
Last month ahead of the Hockey World Cup, the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation had started tagging cattle to identify animals which were being frequently set free.
