The Standing Committee of Home Affairs headed by Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi, according to sources, has asked the Border Security Force (BSF) to establish a clear protocol for rehabilitating the rescued cattle from smugglers on the Indo-Bangla border in the Eastern frontier.
At a meeting held on Monday afternoon, according to sources, responding to a question by BJP MP Dilip Ghosh, BSF DG Pankaj Singh spoke about the piquant problem at their hand. Mr. Ghosh was talking about the rising cases of cattle smuggling across the border and asked what the BSF was doing to tackle this longstanding problem. It is learned that Mr. Singh said that for the BSF the recovered cattle had turned into festering trouble. Because, as per the latest directions, the cattle cannot be auctioned. They have to look for animal welfare organisations to hand over these cattle. Many of these animals are in a precarious state and do not survive the long wait at animal shelters or die in transit.
The committee, according to the sources, has asked for further details, including how many animals had died in the last three years.
Home Secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla who was asked to depose before the committee excused himself, citing other important work. The committee members, according to sources, expressed disapproval and one of the members also pointed out that Mr. Bhalla had missed at least 50% of these meetings.
