Agra: Farmers from different parts of the district assembled at the collectorate here on Thursday under the aegis of Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) and staged a protest, demanding immediate withdrawal of cases registered against them for locking stray animals in government premises. They demanded prompt solution to the problem of cattle causing crop lossBlaming the authorities for failing to rein in stray cattle menace, BKU leaders said farmers were forced to lock stray animals in government premises to protect their crops from getting destroyed by them. Demanding a time-bound plan to develop shelter facilities and yards for stray animals, protestors handed over a 14-point memorandum to additional district magistrate KP Singh to forward it to chief minister Yogi Adityanath.Agra division president of BKU Gajendra Singh Parihar said, “Cases have been registered against hundreds of innocent farmers in each district for protesting against inability of the administration to curb stray cattle menace. We want chief minister Yogi Adityanath to take cognizance of the matter and ensure that cases against farmers are taken back immediately.”The organization’s Agra district president Vishnu Katara said, “Chief minister Yogi Adityanath had directed all district magistrates to ensure that stray cattle were shifted to cow shelters by January 10. But the Agra district administration has not been able to implement the orders. Farmers have to keep night-long vigil to guard their fields from stray animals. We have demanded a time-bound solution to the problem.”BKU leaders claimed that strays caused up to 40% crop loss to farmers. In over a dozen cases, farmers have lost their life or have suffered severe injuries due to attacks by stray animals in the district.On February 3, fed up with stray cows and oxen destroying their crops, farmers at Budhana village under Tajganj police station locked over 50 animals in the local primary school. Later, police set free the animals and shifted some of them to a cow shelter in Sikandra. The next day, police registered an FIR against 145 people under Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act. Twenty people were named in the FIR.Ravikant Parasar, BKU’s Agra division general secretary, said, “Farmers had locked the stray animals in protest against the inaction of district administration, so that the latter would arrange to keep the strays in a shelter. After locking the animals, farmers themselves informed police and local administration. Instead of taking steps to curb stray animal menace, a case was registered against farmers. This is just one of the instance out of dozens of similar cases which have surfaced in Agra division.”The BKU also pressed for implementation of provisions of Swaminathan commission report, reducing electricity tariff rate for farmers, rollback of the move to phase out 10-year-old tractors of farmers should not be phased out, pending compensation of farmers who had suffered crop loss should be released without any further delay and implementation of a farmer pension scheme.

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