In a bid to streamline the functioning of cattle poundsrun by the government in the districts, and to effectively redress of themenace of stray animals, the Punjab Cabinet on Wednesday gave approval forrunning these cattle pounds in Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode.
The Cabinet has authorised Chief Minister CaptainAmarinder Singh to carry out any changes in the new policy, as needed.
According to a spokesperson of the Chief Minister’soffice, there would be no financial burden on the state to run these cattlepounds (except Amritsar and Ferozepur) in PPP mode as these will becomeself-sustainable by generating the required revenue through various approvedactivities.
In line with this decision, the Cabinet has also approvedan Expression of Interest (EOI) to be taken from the interested NGOs/Societies/Organizations/Individuals/ServiceProviders/Companies/Trusts, along with terms and conditions.
The decision to go for PPP mode and accordingly inviteEOI was taken in July 2020 by the Cabinet Sub-Committee constituted inSeptember 2019 to address the problem of stray animals.
Pertinently, 20 cattle pounds are established in Punjab(except Amritsar and Ferozepur due to court cases by villagers), in which asmany as 10,024 stray cattle are managed, with the Government releasing Rs.4385.35 lakh in a staggered manner for construction of the cattle pounds andproper upkeep of stray animals. In accordance with the original plan, sixcattle sheds were to be constructed, thus making it a total of 132 (22x6).However, in these 20 districts, only 76 cattle sheds have been constructed sofar, with the rest of the 56 still to come up.