Govt plans to register all domestic cattle in Punjab, upload information online
To resolve the stray cattle menace on roads and street of Punjab, the state animal and husbandry department has planned to keep an eye on the stray throughout the state. The department will now register all pet cattle, including cows and buffalo, in Punjab and upload their information online.
The cattle will be registered through ear tagging which will have a 12 digit code on it. With the help of this 12-digit code, the department will be able to identify the offenders who left their cows and buffaloes on the roadside.
The officials concerned said that now they can identified the offenders who let their cattle roam free on the streets. The department is likely to start registration of the pet animals from 2020.
An official of the animal and husbandry department, pleading anonymity, said that most of the stray cattle come on the roadside, streets and cities from villages as their owners let them roam free after they no longer remain useful for the owners, due to old age, ailments, or other reasons.
Apart from this, some of the dairy owners in the city let their pet cows and buffaloes into the city for fodder throughout the day and take them back during the evenings.
“The ear tag will help the civic body officials and other departments concerned to identify if any owner has let their pet animals free. Officials and departments concerned will be able to find details of the animals from the Information Network For Animal Productivity and Health (INAPH), which is a web portal,” he added.
Registration of the pet animals will be done under the National Animal Disease Control Program (NADCP). “Registration of animals and uploading their and their owners’ information on the INAPH portal will be one of the key activities to be done under the NADCP,” he added.
Dr Mohinderpal Singh, deputy director of the department, said, “Registration and ear tagging of pet animals will be started from March or April in 2020. Presently, we are under process to get the ear tags. After the registration, the department officials will be able to identify owners who let their animals roam on streets.”