Agra : Aimed at protecting cows and to boost organic farming in the region, Agra Divisional Commissioner Pradip Bhatnagar said Mathura would soon be declared a ‘Goshala Kshetra’ (cow-shelter region).
Talking to PTI, Bhatnagar said all efforts should be made to promote organic farming and encouraging farmers to use cow dung/compost in place of chemical fertilisers. “We will shortly have training workshops to educate farmers on how to switch over to organic farming. Mathura district has thousands of cows and tonnes of precious resource as gobar is not being put to advantageous use.
“At a later stage we can ban use of chemical fertilisers in the district. In Agra we have already banned burning of cow dung cakes,” he said.”Mathura would be first such district in Uttar Pradesh to be recognised as ‘cow protected zone’,” he added.
Mathura Chief Development Officer (CDO) Andra Vamsi said, “Plans are being worked out to promote goshalas to run on scientific lines as cows have importance in our agrarian economy and among people of Mathura and Vrindavan.”
Vrindavan has around 30 goshalas with over 10,000 cows. In Barsana the goshala run by Maan Mandir has more than 30,000 cows and most ashrams have their own goshalas, he said, adding “Cow economics has been a favourite subject of discussion in the Braj area of Sri Krishna-Radha.”
Braj Sharan, in charge of the Goshala at Barsana told PTI, “we have around 32,000 cows right now. The daily output of cow dung is 150 tonnes. We have a gobar plant to produce gas and electricity. Soon we will be selling gobar slurry to farmers to promote organic farming.”
While the world was coming back to nature and taking up organic farming in a big way, we were still mesmerised by chemical fertilisers, and so called new ideas which were creating a whole lot of health problems for the people, Sharan said.
‘Friends of Vrindavan’ convener Jagan Nath Poddar said though the number of goshalas and cows is very high, for want of a centralised system there is no coordination of activities. Villagers instead of using cow dung as fertiliser to energise their fields, which have lost their fertility due to excessive use of chemical fertilisers, use cow dung cakes as fuel, which is such a waste of a precious resource, he said.
The Braj region has for a long time been demanding a national institute of cows in Mathura or Vrindavan. “A centrally-funded institute of goats is already there at Farah, 10 kms from Mathura refinery,” said social activist Ashok Bansal.
Source : The Economic Times
