Morning: Sunday, 17th September
Residents of South City-1 woke up to enjoy a lazy Sunday but were surprised to see more than 3 dozen cows roaming on Central Avenue near Shikshantar School. One cow shelter that was on an encroached HSVP land in South City 1 was demolished last week. The developers who had purchased the land had started barricading the area and the cows were stranded on the road.
Frantic messages to MLA and MCG commissioner did not yield any result but a few residents led by Seema Gupta and the dog welfare group organised food and water for the stray animals.
Evening: Monday 18th September
Yet another day was ending, 50 homeless and hungry cows and calves in South City 1 continued to roam in the colony. A few residents were taken care of, but it was disheartening to see that the administration could not plan a proper rehabilitation despite knowing about it since 14th August. The only official MCG Gowshala, refused to take custody as it did not have the capacity. By the end of the day, Seema ji had contacted an NGO (Dhyan Foundation) and it was ready to rehabilitate the cows, and a big but it was, the cows had to go out of State to Barodia in Rajasthan.
Morning: Tuesday 19th September
Seema Ji and the SCRWA team along with volunteers from Dhyan Foundation reached the MCG office to arrange the transfer of cows to Barodia. The challenges were many, primarily red tape that included permissions from MCG Sanitary team, Chief Medical officer, Animal Husbandry department, SHO and even the Commissioner of MCG. South City residents opened their hearts, and a few opened their UPI /Wallets and began donating for transportation. Almost 30K was collected by evening.
Evening: Wednesday 20th September
After numerous follow-ups and phone calls to all (up to the top) at MCG, permission was received around 5 pm so that the NGO could plan the transportation the next day. The collection had reached almost 70K by then.
Afternoon Thursday: 21st September
Dhyan Foundation volunteers and Seema Ji worked under Police protection to load the cows into 3 trucks and transport them to the Barodia cow shelter. Fortynine cows were rehabilitated within four days. Unofficial sources at MCG told us that this was the fastest resolution of such a case in their tenure. Three cheers to Dhyan Foundation, Seema ji and everyone who contributed.
