Anti stray cattle bill withdrawn unopposed in Gujarat Assembly

Gandhinagar: Gujarat Cattle Control (Keeping and Moving) in Urban Areas Bill, 2022 has been withdrawn today after Governor returned the bill.. The bill has been withdrawn unanimously, said Gujarat government’s Spokesperson minister Jitubhai Vaghani. The Speaker of the State assembly announced Governor’s message asking to do rethink about the bill after which the withdrawal was proposed by Minister of State for Urban Development Vinodbhai Moradiya.

Cattle-rearing communities have been up in arms against the legislation, seeking complete scrapping of the bill. They have gone on state wide strike today and attempted to block milk-supply. Protests are being held across the state since April this year, forcing the government to put the bill into abeyance while it was pending in the governor’s office for approval.

The government had passed the bill through majority after series of incidents in which stray cattle injured or killed the persons in various cities and towns.

The bill required cattle rearers to obtain a licence to keep cattle in eight cities and 156 towns of Gujarat. It required cattle owners to have the cattle heads tagged within 15 days of obtaining a licence, failing which they faced imprisonment which extended up to 1 year, or a penalty of rupees 10,000, or both. If any official is assaulted or obstructed from duty, the person responsible will be punished with a jail term of up to 1 year and a fine of Rs 50,000.

Two-day Session Of Gujarat Assembly has begun from today, the last one before state Assembly elections due in December this year. The session will end tomorrow. DeshGujarat