‘Take steps to tackle stray cattle on roads’

Cuttack: Orissa high court has directed Cuttack Municipal Corporation (CMC) to come up with a “proper action plan” to tackle the problems in movement of traffic on the account of stray cattle in almost all parts of the city.
The court took up the issue a month ago after concern was raised by members of the High Court Bar Association who stated that unattended cattle is leading to road accidents, sometimes causing loss of lives.
The special bench constituted for suo motu PILs on civic issues in Cuttack issued the direction on Thursday after CMC’s counsel submitted a report which indicated that stray cattle are being picked in two shifts — from 7 am to noon and from 2 pm to 7 pm — by engaging a seven-member team in each shift and deploying a cattle-catching trolley.
The cattle are kept in CMC’s kine house at Sati Chaura for seven days and are then released to their owners with proper identification after collecting fines along with feeding charges. Between Apr 1 and Aug 3, more than Rs 2.69 lakh was collected from cattle owners towards fine and feeding charges.