NEW DELHI, Jan 29:
The Supreme Court today told the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) to consider asking concessionaires involved in construction of roads to set up a gaushala (cowshed) under CSR responsibility to take care of stray animals entering the highways.
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A bench of Justices Vikram Nath, Sandeep Mehta and NV Anjaria which reserved its verdict on a batch of petitions seeking modification of the November 7 order of the top court on relocation and sterilisation of stray dogs expressed its unhappiness over the efforts of Punjab, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu in complying with its direction.
The top court said the efforts of the Punjab Government in sterilising 100 stray dogs a day was inadequate and said it is “needle in a haystack”.
The bench asked the counsel appearing for NHAI to also develop an app where people can report sightings of stray animals on the National Highways.
“You can also ask the concessionaires to setup a gaushala after say 50 km where these stray animals can be taken care of under the corporate social responsibility,” the bench told the counsel.
The counsel agreed to look into the possibility of developing the app and asking the concessionaire to set up gaushalas.
The NHAI counsel pointed that there were over 1300 vulnerable locations on the National Highways and the authority is dealing with it to avoid any road mishaps.
He said that most of the states have taken steps in removing stray cattle from the highways but still few like Maharashtra, Jharkhand, Rajasthan are yet to come forward to deal with the issue. (PTI)
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