Cowshed shocker on govt office campus

Patna: A Patna Municipal Corporation (PMC) team on Thursday stumbled upon a khatal (cowshed) running from a government office campus.

The team found a cowshed on the Bihar Rajbhasha Parishad campus, which is also shared by Bihar State Educational Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (BSEIDCL) and Kilkari Bihar Bal Bhavan, a wing of the education department.

The team was led by PMC Bankipore circle city manager Sanjay Kumar among others, who evicted the squatters and cleared the cowshed from the government office campus.

Sanjay told The Telegraph that the cowshed owner was running an illegal business in nexus with some grade-IV government officials.

“Initially the cowshed owner claimed he had permission from the authorities concerned (referring to the government officials) but when I questioned the officials, they said they had no role in the business and they were rather trying to raze the cowshed for a long time but couldn’t do it. Some of the officials later requested me to leave the seized cattle behind, pleading that the cowshed owner was poor, but we didn’t. We have sent the seized cattle to a Didarganj-based facility. The owner can claim the cattle later,” added Sanjay.

The cowshed owner even allowed his cattle to feed at the dumping ground near the Saidpur drain.

“The cattle may pick up a disease. However, we cannot take action against the cowshed owner regarding this because it doesn’t come under our purview,” he added.

During the drive, the PMC team also conducted an anti-encroachment drive outside Shivam Apartment near the Saidpur drain during which many squatters were evicted from the spot.

A night shelter, which had also been encroached upon, was freed of squatters.

“The anti-encroachment drive is going to continue,” said Sanjay.

The drive has not been very successful earlier as the squatters keep coming back to the place from were they were removed.

Courtesy: The Telegraph