TIMES NEWS NETWORK
Ahmedabad: Illegal cow slaughter will now attract a jail term of up to seven years in Gujarat. The Gujarat legislative assembly on Tuesday unanimously cleared the Gujarat Animal Preservation (Amendment) Bill, 2011, which prevents the transportation of cows, calves, bulls and bullocks without prior permission.
The bill makes a permit obligatory for transporting cows. This is to be issued by an authority to be set up soon. The transporter will also have to prove the bovines were being ferried only for agricultural purposes. The state’s agriculture minister Dileep Sanghani said apart from the jail term and the animals and vehicles being seized, those breaking the law will also be fined up to Rs 50,000.
The Congress did not opposed this new law which adrreses a long-standing demand by the Maldhari community of cow herders. Leaders of the community have been agitating for a harsher law for some time. States like Delhi also ban cow slaughter but the law prescribes a maximum jail term of five years and a fine of Rs 10,000.
Leader of the opposition in the assembly Shaktisinh Gohil said that the need of the hour was to get to the bottom of the problem. “Earlier, the Maldhari community had about 3.32 lakh hectares of land for grazing at their disposal,” he said. “However, the present government has given away such land at throwaway prices to industrial houses.
Earlier, unproductive cows were sent to graze in these areas, but since there is no more ‘gauchar’ land available, cattle herders are forced to spend Rs 40 to Rs 50 daily on each cow for fodder. This has driven many of them to sell their cows.”
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