Bounty hunters round up New Delhi's cows
August 09, 2005 Edition 1
The long-running battle to round up stray cattle on the streets of New Delhi has intensified, with the city's high court offering a 2 000 rupee (£25) bounty to anyone who can catch a cow.
Within 24 hours, the streets were filled with amateur cowboys trying to catch some of the estimated 35 000 head of cattle roaming the capital.
The bounty was offered as a spur to the municipal authorities who have failed to tackle the problem. Municipal leaders, critics allege, are reluctant to rein in the cows because the "dairy dons'', or cattle mafia also control large vote-banks needed by politicians to retain their seats.
Newspapers published guides to catching cows, warning that lassoing was trickier than it looked in John Wayne films and advising that a tranquilliser gun was the only really sure method.
The cows, lounging on dual carriageways, blocking roads and parking spaces, can also be dangerous when frightened, trampling and goring at least four people to death this year.
With two cows captured and driven to the municipal pound yielding the equivalent of a month's salary, the warnings went unheeded.
Chandan Singh, a bus driver, tried his luck between shifts, dusting himself down after a calf knocked him to the ground. Bruised but unperturbed, he picked up his stick and charged off in pursuit of another beast.
"Two thousand rupees is a lot of money,'' he said. "I will not rest until not a single cow or bull is left on the roads.''
City records show that last year 34 000 animals were rounded up and yet the number visible on the streets never seems to fall.
