Coimbatore: Stray cattle menace has reached alarming proportions near the busy market areas surrounding Town Hall, thus posing threat to the safety of city residents who are at the receiving end of apathetic authorities who continue to turn a blind eye to the problem.
Coimbatore: Stray cattle menace has reached alarming proportions near the busy market areas surrounding Town Hall, thus posing threat to the safety of city residents who are at the receiving end of apathetic authorities who continue to turn a blind eye to the problem.
The residents frequenting these busy market places and hubs of Town Hall, Vysial Street, Gandhi Park, Ukkadam and Raja Street are at the mercy of free-roaming, scuffling stray cows and they continue to fear for their safety.
“Due to this increasing stray cattle movement, traffic congestion and accidents have become order of the day” lament the city denizens.
Peeved at the official apathy in addressing this paramount civic problem, the city denizens complain that “Even though many representations were made to the authorities and the media coverage have repeatedly highlighted the stray cattle menace in the city roads, nothing has been done to eliminate the problem”, alleged Paramasivam from Vysial street.
At around 11.30 AM on July 11, two cows were seen locking horns in the middle of the Pasuvannan temple road, Sukrawarpet making the shoppers flee for their safety. The same was widely reported in media and the videos were circulated widely in social media.
“After 30 minutes of struggle did the public manage to bring the cows under control after splashing water and hitting them with a cane” eyewitnesses to the incident testify to Simplicity.
The said incident did cause traffic congestion in the Sukrawarpet area for about half an hour. Residents in the area have complained that no action has been taken despite reporting the incident to the authorities.
In another such incident of stray cattle menace, which took place at around 9 PM last night, two cows fought in the middle of the road near Vysial street B1 police station.
The fighting cows came crashing down on the passing vehicles. Women who were passing by that way, after work hours were scared out of their wits and they have to flee to the flanks of the road to escape the sparring cows.
“This sparring of cows had lasted for about 20 minutes, causing a massive traffic jam in and around Vysial Street. The ferocious cows made the motorists and pedestrians run hither and thither causing panic and possibilities for accidents", say eyewitnesses.
According to reliable sources, more than 20 people have sustained injuries due to the encounter with stray cows roaming and clogging the busy city streets.
In an incident reported on June 19, Sabeer a resident of Karumbukkadai area met with an accident after his vehicle collided with a stray cow that banged in front of his vehicle, while he was on his way to drop his child at her school.
Both Sabeer and his child were left injured in this incident. Based on his complaint, the Corporation and the Police had impounded the cows on June 21. But many such stray cattle cases go unreported.
Commenting on the increasing stray cattle menace in the city streets Sirajdheen, Social activist said “Cows fighting in the busy market areas and roads in the city have become a norm of the day. It is tough the public to travel on these thoroughfares due to the traffic congestion caused by the stray cows fighting and clogging the road spaces. Still dangerous is that these cows suddenly collide with the vehicles causing road accidents."
“The Corporation Officials and Police should redouble their efforts to put an end to this ever-increasing stray cattle problem and impound them. Hefty fines should be levied on those who let loose their cattle to roam in the streets. If the stray cattle problem is not addressed it might lead to grievous accidents and injury to the unwitting road users and residents of the city” the social activist warned.