Valpoi (Goa): With more than 355 bovines to look after including 93 cows, Jai Sri Ram Go Sanvardhan Kendra at Valpoi is making people look differently the way we should look at the cow conservation.

The bovines which are picked up from the streets across the state, sometimes in badly injured situation, are brought to this Gau Shala, spread on five acres area. The team of professionals and Gau Sevaks then take care of them.

Hanumant Parab, who heads this charity, recalls how in the year 2008, their fight to save the cow from the clutches of butcher ended them into this mission. The cow was rescued first from Valpoi and then from Bicholim which fetched 17 cows, he recalls.

Then what began was the struggle, including a writ petition in the High Court. The High Court ordered that the custody of rescued cows be given to the trust. Those cows were shifted to Valpoi, giving birth to Goa’s one of the most prominent movement.

Two huge cow sheds houses all breed of bovines. Parab says all are Indian breed and most of them rescued from the streets. The trust has taken up the work of fight against illegal slaughterhouses and also butchering of cows at state run Goa Meat Complex Limited.

Parab said that the trust has been finding it difficult to survive in absence of proper governnemnt support. “Actually what role we are playing is the one which government should have played. But government is not giving any financial assistance to us,” he said.

The trust is also facing difficulty in fetching fodder from Karnataka due to various issues raised by the local farmers there.

Team TNV