Telangana will soon have a cow protection policy, Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy announced on Tuesday during a meeting with officials of the animal husbandry department.
Instructing officials to come up with a comprehensive policy to protect cows, the Chief Minister has appointed a three-member committee comprising Special Chief Secretary to Animal Husbandry Department Sabyasachi Ghosh, Principal Secretary to Endowments Department Shailaja Ramaiyar and Secretary to Agriculture Department Raghunandan Rao. The committee, according to the CM’s instruction, will conduct an “in-depth study on the establishment of cow shelters or goshalas”. The committee will also visit other states where cow protection policies are in place.
The decisions were announced after Reddy held a review of cow protection in the state. The CM said the new policy “should focus mainly on cow protection in view of the importance of cows in our culture and the sentiments of devotees”.
Reddy has also directed officials to build four state-of-the-art cow protection centres in four locations in Telangana. In the first phase, these cow shelters will come up in areas like the famous Vemulawada Temple, where the devotees donate calves as part of the ‘Kode Mokku’ ritual. “Special attention should be paid to the protection of calves donated with utmost devotion by the devotees,” Reddy said. He instructed officials to establish the centre on a sprawling 100 acres of land at Vemulawada. The shelters will also come up in Yadagirigutta, Yenkepally near Hyderabad city, and at the Animal Husbandry University.
The Chief Minister emphasised that “the state government is ready to spend liberally for cow protection”. During the meeting, the animal husbandry officials submitted an approach paper related to the management of cow shelters to Reddy.
State Animal Husbandry Minister Vakiti Srihari, Chief Minister’s Principal Secretaries V Seshadri and Srinivasa Raju, Special Chief Secretary to the Animal Husbandry Department Sabyasachi Ghosh, Principal Secretary to Endowments Shailaja Ramayyar, Agriculture Secretary Raghunandan Rao, HMDA Commissioner Sarfaraz Ahmed, Animal Husbandry Director Gopi and Ranga Reddy District Collector Narayana Reddy were present at the meeting.
