Priyanka Gandhi vows to resolve stray cattle menace in UP, promises jobs for women

Senior Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Friday said if her party comes to power in Uttar Pradesh, it will adopt the Chhattisgarh government’s scheme to buy cow dung to deal with the menace of stray cattle.

Maharajganj: Senior Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Friday said if her party comes to power in Uttar Pradesh, it will adopt the Chhattisgarh government’s scheme to buy cow dung to deal with the menace of stray cattle.

Referring to a recent speech by Prime Minister Narendra Modi wherein he promised voters that a new policy will be introduced after March 10 to tackle the issue of stray cattle in Uttar Pradesh, Vadra said she is happy that he “copied” the Congress’ suggestion.

Addressing a public meeting and conduction roadshow for party candidates Shardendu Pandey from Paniyara, Virendra Chaudhary from Farenda, Alok Prasad from Sadar, Raju Kumar Gupta from Siswa, and Sadamohan Upadhyay from Nautanwa in district Maharajganj, she said the Congress-led Chhattisgarh government has shown how to solve this issue.

“It (Chhattisgarh government) started buying cow dung from people for Rs 2 per kilogram. Initially, people mocked this scheme. But then people started taking care of stray animals and sold cow dung to the government, which utilized it by giving it to self-help groups and by making vermicompost, fertilizer, gobar gas from it. The problem was solved,” she said.

“If we form the government in UP, we will start this scheme here as well. Not only this, Rs 3,000 per acre compensation will be given to farmers for damages caused by stray animals,” the Congress general secretary said.

She announced that women's help desks will be set up in the hospitals and arrangements will be made to increase the number of women doctors at the block levels

Vadra also reiterated the Congress’ promise of ensuring 40 percent reservation for women in government jobs, asserting that her party wants to empower women and not just dole out freebies.

“They (BJP) say one free cooking gas cylinder will be given, we say we will give you three free cylinders. But we will also work to empower you. We will ensure 40 percent reservation in government jobs for women. It will be on lines of reservation done in the past. Twenty-five percent police jobs will be reserved for women,” the Congress leader said.