Are you drinking milk from a plastic packet or is plastic part of the milk? If we care about the hygiene of milk which reaches us, we should care about the cows that graze on plastics to give us milk! There is someone who is making a change, one street and one corner at a time.
We often see cows perched up on garbage. It is an unpalatable scene. Most municipality laws prohibit stray cattle and fine owners if they let cattle stray. The reality is far from laws. Stray cattle is omni-present and due to the unhygienic conditions of grazing, the cows’ udders get infected with mastitis. Cross-bred or imported cows are anyways susceptible to mastitis due to the hot climate and the poor conditions just makes it worse.
Several cattle owners are settled close to urban populace. They do not have the means to feed the cattle or have enough grazing space in their own compounds so they let the cows fend for themselves. The cows walk several miles in search of pastures, but due to non-availability of greenery – end up on garbage lots almost at the end of every locality. The cows find their way back home in the evening with their udders full, waiting to be milked. Sadly, the same milk is collected by co-operatives without much quality control leading to heavy presence of anti-biotics in milk (which are given to cure the cows suffering from many diseases including mastitis).
Observing this keenly, Mr. Gajanan decided to take up on himself to find a solution. He took permission from the BBMP and set up the 1st Cow Food Corner with just 3 vessals. He would fill those pots with segregated green waste weighing almost 40kg in the morning and the same quantity in the evening.
“People do not know what to do with their segregated waste as very few people do composting, by keeping their food separately for the cow – they are doing a great work for the environment by avoiding landfills”, says a Trustee from Desi Cows for Better India.
The model has worked well in Jayanagar, a plush locality in Bangalore as now many more people are coming forward to segregate for the cows.
“Cities should not become a hub for cows with more cattle rearers finding this as an opportunity to feed their cows for free. But either the municipality puts these cows in Gaushalas/pounds or prohibit the cattle rearers to let them stray. It is a public initiative and it is gathering steam because people want safer milk and cleaner environment. The government and public needs to join hands to stop plastic grazing of cows”, says Mr. Gajanan.
To support this initiative, contact Mr. Gajanan on gajananbshirali@rediffmail.com