Seven illegal cattle pounds razed 2 days after attack on VMC team

“We have demolished about seven illegal cattle sheds and also impounded about a dozen cattle, including those that were tied to the compound of the VMC Atithigruh and Urban Health centre in the vicinity and do not have RFID tags. We had kept along police officers of Bapod and Panigate police stations as well as VMC security personnel and officers of the local ward offices as well as the VMC’s Market department. An Assistant Municipal Commissioner was also present at the spot,” said encroachment removal officer Rajesh Macwan.

The action was part of a “routine raid” and not a reaction to the attack on the team of VMC officers who were cornered by cattle owners in Kishanwadi on Saturday, Macwan clarified.

Following the attack, VMC’s cattle impounding team supervisor Kiran Girnar had lodged a complaint at the Panigate police station stating that the team was attacked when it had visited the Gadheda market area to attend to a complaint of the nuisance of stray cattle. “We had received a complaint via the police control room that three stray bovines were causing a menace in Gadheda market area around 11 pm. Along with a team of police, we went to the area and our team successfully impounded the stray cattle. At that time, four bike-borne persons arrived armed with sticks and began arguing with us,” Girnar’s complaint read.

The four men forcibly freed the impounded cattle and made them run wild on the streets, endangering the lives of people and also obstructing official work, he stated. “One of the accused, named Raju, hammered a stick on my head, causing injuries and bleeding while another accused named Poonam assaulted another member of the VMC’s cattle impounding team, Buddhana Nanji,” the complaint states further.

The injured VMC employees were rushed to a local hospital while the Panigate police lodged an FIR against the accused.