Cattle Deaths On Train Tracks Doubled In The Last One Year
Since April this year, 6,900 cases of cattle deaths on railway tracks have been recorded.
The number of incidents where cows died after being run over by trains increased by more than two folds in one year, reported The Indian Express.
In the financial year 2015-2016, a total of 2,183 such cases were registered with the Indian Railways. By March 2018, this number reached 10,105, recording a 362 per cent rise.
Since April this year, 1,300 cases were recorded in Uttar Pradesh-based North Central Railway alone. This is a 271 per cent jump from 349 cattle deaths during the same period last year.
According to the report, majority of such incidents occurred in North Central Railway, Northern Railway in Delhi and West Central Railway in Madhya Pradesh, each zone accounting for 18% of cattle deaths.
A total of 6,900 cases of cattle deaths on railway tracks have been recorded since April 2018.
Daljit Singh, president of the Progressive Dairy Farmers’ Association in Punjab, said, “Cow deaths due to accidents on tracks and roads have increased, but they are mostly cows roaming astray after they stop giving milk. They are mostly desi breed. And this problem will only grow in the coming years. Singh asked. “Is this not cow slaughter?”
Railway Board Chairman Ashwani Lohani told The Sunday Express, “It is a social problem. Our tracks are not fenced and run through open fields in the country. Often cattle come on the tracks and get run over. Cattle owners are aware of this.”