The Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) has proposed to increase
the fine levied by the corporation to release stray cattle captured from
road.

The proposal has been sent to the Housing and Urban
Development (H & UD) department and awaiting approval. The BMC is
responsible for keeping stray cattle off the roads by taking them to the
single kine house. The owner of the cattle has to pay a fine of Rs 100
for releasing the cattle from the kine house. The BMC has proposed to
increase the fine to Rs 500 in order to discourage the cattle owners
from leaving their cattle unattended.

Despite BMC’s proposal to
increase the fine amount, it still lacks manpower to tackle the bovine
menace across the city. The BMC has only one kine house in Unit III and
one vehicle to pick up the stray cattle from the roads. The path leading
to kine house is narrow. “It is difficult to manoeuvre the vehicle on
this route to take the cattle to the kine house,” said a BMC official.

Even
though the proposal for increasing the fine is yet to get the H &
UD department’s approval, BMC mayor A N Jena said the fine amount had
been revised two months back. “We have already started penalising the
cattle owners with `500 for letting their cattle go astray,” said Jena.

The
BMC had also proposed to take up two-acre land on the outskirts of the
city to construct a kine house. As per the proposal, the kine house
would be constructed on one-acre land and the other acre would be used
as a grazing ground for the captured stray cattle.

No progress has
been made on the proposal yet. Due to the laxity of the corporation
officials in managing the bovine menace, nowadays increasing number of
cattle can be seen blocking roads at many places across the city.