Mangaluru: Goshala demolition renders over 300 cows shelterless in Kenjar

Mangaluru: District administration on Thursday demolished a Goshala in Kenjar leaving more than 300 cows shelterless. The officials claim that the land belongs to the government and was earmarked for the Coast Guard Training Academy.

However, the owner claims that the district administration has not served any notice to him and that the sale deed is in his name

Owner of the shelter, Prakash Shetty said, “This is not right. I have over 300 cows in my goshala where will they go? I can’t leave them like this without proper shelter or they will be stolen. Is this the way of behaving with common people? I also asked them to provide an alternate shelter for the cows in my own land which is 100 metres away from the current shelter. But they did not do that. I am pained by this behaviour of the officials”

Shetty even called out the Gau Rakshana campaign of the BJP and said, “Where will the innocent animals go, How will I protect them? There is a huge mafia behind this, they want all the Goshalas to come under their control. Also, I highly doubt that the land can be used for Coast guard training purposes as there are high tension wires near the land.”

Speaking to Udayavani,  Deputy Commissioner (DC) Dr. K V Rajendra, said, ” The land was acquired by KIADB and the original owners of the land had received it in form of compensation. Later, the original owners sold the land to another person. Hence, the government has now staked claim to the land”

He further said, “We will provide an alternate shelter for the cows. If he approaches the district administration, we will provide him a separate land for the Goshala. It is also alleged that he was running several other businesses too in the land. Even though it is a good thing that he is running the Goshala, we can’t compensate his other businesses”

“I have informed the officials to look after the issue. I have also instructed the field officials to take care of the animals and we will do the needful,” he added