Encouraging people to adopt stray cows
Parmod Bharti
Nawanshahr, June 23, 2009 Chached
With the twin aims of preserving the glorious tradition of serving the “gau mata” (cow) as well as to save residents of a number of villages situated in the Shivalik foothills falling in Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar, Hoshiarpur and Ropar districts from the menace of stray cattle, Acharya Chetnanand has launched a drive “Each one, adopt one” for ensuring active participation of the masses in the “gau raksha andolan” (save cow drive).
The drive is getting momentum day by day as the enthusiastic followers of the Bhuriwale Trust have so far caught more than 500 abandoned cows for adoption and protection.
“With this the abandoned cows have started getting proper shelter, fodder and care in the houses and the villagers have been relieved of the nuisance being created by the stray animals by damaging their crops or causing,” said Tirath Ram Bhumbla, spokesman of the Maharaj Lal Dass Brahmanand Bhuriwale Garibdassi Trust, Tapparian Khurd, and the Maharaj Bhuriwale Garibdassi Educational Trust, Pojewal. He said the families coming forward for rearing up stray cows were being supported by the trusts. Proper medical care is also being provided to the cows.
Though there are proposals for providing funds for setting up “gaushalas” by the Central and state governments in the area, Acharya Chetnanand is of the view that merely setting up of “gaushalas” would not serve the purpose in its true spirit. “Spending huge amounts on ‘gaushalas’ and bearing recurring expenses would be futile sans active participation of the people. Hence, he thought of launching a motivation drive which would not only ensure active participation of the people but would serve the purpose of ‘gau raksha’ in a very simple and economical manner,” Bhumbla said and added that the Acharya had been visiting the villages for motivating the followers to achieve the target of rearing at least 1,000 stray cows.