Silchar Gaushala under radar after 4 cattle died last week; Authority claims death due to disease, not mismanagement

The Silchar Gaushala at Budhurail area of Kathal road was established 17 years ago with the objective of taking care of stray and deserted cattles of this region. Cattle are kept, fed and taken care of under the authority of the Gaushala. But in the last week, 4 cattle have died under mysterious circumstances which have created some controversy surrounding the conditions under which the cattle are kept there. Even many Gau Rakshaks (Cattle Protectors) have alleged that it was solely due to mismanagement and ill care of the Gaushala authority that those poor cattle had to die.

This incident of 4 cattle dying in the Gaushala has brought this institution under the strict radar, with allegations flying all around. But the Silchar Gaushala authority has clarified its stance that such allegations of ill-treatment or mismanagement are unfounded and completely false. “People need to understand that not all cattle that are brought here are always healthy and young, in fact, the majority of the cows or bulls that come here are either already quite old or are suffering from some health complications. Still, we do take utmost care of them and provide timely meals, and also whenever any cow or bull goes through any health complication, we waste no time consulting a veterinary doctor. We have more than a hundred cattle living in our Gaushala, so it’s only natural that a few of them might get sick any time, or sometimes when cows are brought here, they are already sick”, said Mahavir Jain, President of the Silchar Gaushala at Budhurail.

Talking about the probable reason behind the untimely deaths of those cattle, Mahavir Jain said that the moment this issue came to the fore, they called a veterinary doctor to see into this matter, and tests are still being done to ascertain what might have caused them to expire. Further adding, he said, “After consulting the doctor, he opined that the reason behind the deaths might be due to some rare bovine disease, but nothing is confirmed yet until the test reports arrive. But this has got nothing to do with mismanagement or any lack of care. I can say with full assurance that we take better care of cattle than any dairy farm, as using them for commercial motives isn’t our primary objective.” Mr Jain also confirmed that on August 16, he took the matter upon himself and contacted the Cachar DC regarding this issue, so that proper medical attention could be provided to the ailing cattle.

Dhanraj Surana happens to be the Vice-president of the Silchar Gaushala and is also responsible for the overall management of the cattle shelter. He asserted that as most of the cattle that they take in are either old or already suffering from health issues, it’s only natural that a handful of them might end up succumbing to their ailments. “We have around 110-120 cattle including cows, bulls and calves as well. In many cases, whenever a cow gets sick, rather than treating the cow the owner ends up handing over that cow to us. Even then, we take timely care of them and provide meals. When the first two cattle got ill and eventually died, we reported this to the Cachar DC to look into this matter. The vet has expressed his doubt that the deaths might’ve been due to some bovine disease, and if the medical reports do confirm this in the coming days, then vaccination of all the cattle is crucial. To ensure that, we got in touch with the DC and explained everything in detail”, said Dhanraj Surana.

Talking about the allegations, he dismissed them and said that anybody is welcome at their Gaushala to check how the cattle are being taken care of. “There has never been any instance of shortage of food for the cattle. Sometimes what happens is that, due to some unknown disease, the cattle stop eating totally, but that happens due to their ailment, not due to lack of food or mismanagement. Unfortunately, the death of those four poor cattle is being used now as a political tool to defame and attack us. The moment we got to know about those cattle getting sick, we immediately informed the DC as well as the veterinary, what else could we have done in this scenario?”