MCD plans 15 special teams to catch stray cattle

NEW DELHI - With the Commonwealth Games around the corner, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) Wednesday discussed the stray cattle menace in the capital and promised to formulate special teams by Sep 1 to look into the problem.

In a meeting of the civic agency’s Standing Committee, the highest decision making body, it was decided to deploy 15 special cattle catching teams in various parts of the city from Sep 1.

These teams will operate in seven municipal zones - Central, South, City, Sadar Paharganj, Karol Bagh, Civil Lines and Shahdara (South).

These teams will be in addition to the zonal teams which are already working to curb the stray cattle menace. The corporation has also purchased 13 new hydraulic cattle catching trucks to tackle the problem.

The corporation admitted that it is yet to shift 2,361 illegal dairies to a proposed alternative site in the outskirts of Delhi.

“The proposed Ghogha Dairy site, where illegal dairies were to be shifted following a court order, has all the infrastructural facilities but there is no water supply in the area,” an MCD official said.

Most of the councillors complained that the Ghogha Dairy project is not practical as it has been facing problems since its inception.

The MCD has spent nearly Rs.20 crore in the last five years for the development of Ghogha diary.

“The MCD has developed 2,080 plots at Ghogha dairy, 945 have been distributed and 245 dairy owners have already taken possession. But the dairies could not be shifted there due to lack of water supply,” MCD Commissioner K.S. Mehra said in the meeting

Mehra also informed that he held a meeting with the officials of the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) and that they have promised to supply water by the year-end when the Bawana water treatment plant gets ready.

“As a temporary measure, the corporation has built an underground reservoir and the DJB has assured to supply drinking water through tankers,” he added.