Purpose of Gaushala purely charitable not commercial: Balbir Sidhu

Purpose of Gaushala purely charitable not commercial: Balbir Sidhu

Allegation regarding the land merely based on vested political interests

City soon be free from stray cattle menace with construction of more sheds

Nabaz-e-Punjab, Mohali, August 6:
Condemning the efforts of some people to politicise the social work like gaushala, Punjab Health and Family Welfare Minister Balbir Singh Sidhu termed the allegation levelled against him totally baseless and only for vested political interests as they don’t have any issue to allure people of Mohali constituency against me.
In a press conference at Bal Gopal Gaushala Welfare Society, Mr. Sidhu said that the land is purely dedicated for the well-being of the abandoned Bovines, not for commercial purposes. “If anyone wants to know the purpose, he may visit the site to see the commercial activities running here,” he quipped.
Putting the question mark on allegations of political rivals, the Cabinet Minister said, “Do we make any mistake to construct a Gaushala as I made a commitment with the people of Mohali that I would make this city stray animal free so that the road mishaps could be prevented and precious lives of innocent people as well as animals can be saved.’’
In the presence of all trustees of Gaushala and Panchayat of village Balongi, he informed that all the trustees of the Gaushala are renowned industrialists and prominent citizens of Mohali whose main motive is purely well-being of the abandoned Bovines and provide shelter for cows.
Pointing out his firm resolution to set up this ultra-modern Gaushala, Mr. Sidhu said that “We are trying hard to make a state of the art Semen Laboratory here, where research work to foetus transplant would be initiated to ensure that only female Calves could be born. He said that the land was lying unused and was being encroached upon by people but now the panchayat is getting income from lease deeds.
Meanwhile, General Secretary of Bal Gopal Gau Basera Welfare Society Mr. Naresh Kansal said that he along with other trustees had been working tirelessly for the last 4 years to provide better facilities and shelter to the stray and abandoned cows of the area. They had earlier been managing the Municipal Corporation Gaushala in 2017-18 but were highly distressed by the lack of space, facilities and diet provided to the cows.
Mr. Kansal said that Mohali residents are constantly raising the demand of Gaushala with more space and modern facilities and approached the Health Minister to help them with getting the land on lease and also requested him to lead the society to make the dream turned into reality.

Mr. Anurag Aggarwal, Trustee of the Society said that till date more than Rs. 1 crore has been invested to construct the cow shed. The money has been donated by the trustees or raised from people through voluntary donations. The society aims to provide a diagnostic cum health centre and a community hall here for the use of the poor and all these facilities shall be provided free of cost. The total budget for this would be more than 5 crs. Another trustee Mr. Sanjeev Garg said that the society is highly pained by attempts by some people of malicious intentions to fulfill their political aspirations.