BHUBANESWAR: Stray cattle roaming freely on city roads have become a menace with not only vehicles getting hit almost every day but the animals themselves are being run over most of the times.
Last Wednesday, two bulls, fighting with each other, hit and damaged the car of a senior government official at Niladri Vihar. Similar incidents have been reported from different parts of the city.
Sometimes the animals, especially bulls, run amok on the streets either injuring themselves or hitting vehicles.
Parthasarathy Panda, director of regional office of the Employees’ State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) Odisha, said two bulls, fighting with each other, damaged his car parked outside his house at Niladri Vihar here. “Thankfully, nobody was there in the car, otherwise the situation could have been different. I had to send my cars for repairs,” he added.
He said the civic authorities should conduct a drive to catch the stray animals and keep them in animal shelters for better care of the animals themselves and safety of the residents.
In January 2020, a bull killed a woman and injured four others at Samantarapur here. The woman had died on the spot. In August 2013, a 60-year-old man was killed when a bull fighting with others attacked him at Badagada in the city.
“Sometimes the stray cattle get injured after being hit by speeding vehicles. If the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) can put them in kine houses, these animals will get a new life. They will not pose any hurdle to traffic or citizens. More kine houses are needed to solve this menace,” said Ramshankar Dalei, a resident of Khandagiri.
