Stray cattle pose risks at Bhimdatta Municipality

Stray cattle have destroyed crops cultivated in five katthas of land belonging to Saraswati Bhatta of Bhimdatta Municipality-6 in Kanchanpur district.

“I have fenced my land with barbed wire. But, it did not stop stray cattle from entering and destroying crops. It is increasingly becoming difficult to save crops. They also entered the houses and destroyed crops,” she lamented.

The problem has become worse without its sustainable solution. The local government has spent a large amount of money and efforts in managing stray animals, but to no avail so far. They have also posed risks of road accidents.

Enraged local people collected and released stray animals into the premises of the Municipality in protest. People’s representatives made it their election agenda to manage stray cattle. But, after six months of their election, the problem is left unaddressed, accused the local people. In the process, there had been a clash between local people and police.

Another local Krishna Datta Joshi protested failure to manage stray cattle. “The municipality has failed to manage stray cattle so far. They have destroyed our crops, thus affecting farmers,” he said.

The municipality spokesperson Mahendra Khadka said efforts were on to manage stray cattle. “We are working on it after forming a committee. A search for lands to contain stray animals is ongoing. We will manage them after finding lands,” he said.