BSF South Bengal struggling to maintain seized cattle

Border Security Force in South Bengal Frontier is currently facing difficulties in maintaining the cattle that were seized at the Indo-Bangladesh border areas, as under the new provisions of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Rules, 2017, the customs department is not authorised to auction the seized cattle from the border outposts.

Kolkata:Border Security Force in South Bengal Frontier is currently facing grave challenges in maintenance of the cattle seized from the Indo-Bangladesh border areas.

In a press conference on Wednesday, the Inspector-General of BSF (South Bengal Frontier), YB Khurania revealed that BSF currently has around 2700 cattle still in their custody out of more than 19000 seized by them this year, till August.

The issue started after an order was passed by the Supreme Court last year which stated that the sale of animals shall be carried out under Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Rules, 2017. This altered the old arrangement under which customs departments auctioned the cattle seized on the border, said Khurania.

Under the new provisions, the customs department is not authorised to auction the seized cattle from the border outposts.

Some NGOs have come forward to assist the BSF in disposing off the seized cattle but the issue still remains unresolved.

"The police are saying that they cannot accept the cattle without the cattle smugglers as they registering a case of smuggling as they need to lodge a case to take the cattle under their custody," said a senior BSF official.

The BSF official further stated that despite several meetings with state officials at the highest level of administration, the BSF is facing a lot of issues as it doesn't have separate allotted fund and extra manpower to take care of this stray cattle.

In addition, the problem may worsen as the cattle do not have access to veterinary care at the Border Outposts.