74 cattle being illegally transported to slaughterhouses in West Bengal were rescued during a raid at Juriaghati Chowk in Keonjhar district.
(Representational File Photo)
The Special Task Force (STF) of Odisha police rescued 74 cattle being illegally transported to slaughterhouses in West Bengal during a raid at Juriaghati Chowk in Keonjhar district.
The arrested persons were active members of an interstate gang thriving on cattle smuggling. They are being interrogated to elicit vital details on the modus operandi of the racket.
The cattle from the State are mostly transported to West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. The districts like Keonjhar, Jajpur, Balasore, Mayurbhanj, Gajapati, Rayagada and Koraput are the major transit points for cattle-laden trucks.
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Stringent law remains in force in the State. But the police who allegedly act hand in glove with the smugglers often turn flat in enforcing the legal provisions.
Orissa Prevention of Cow Slaughter Act, 1960 and Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Transport of Animal on Foot) Rules-2001 are hardly complied with by law-enforcing agencies.
It’s pertinent to note here that the Animal Welfare Board of India had asked the State to establish police check posts at strategic locations and smuggling-prone spots of the inter-state border to curb the cattle smuggling. However the cattle smuggling goes unabated with police check posts exclusively to keep tabs on smugglers functioning on paper only.
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