‘Gau seva’ cess earns Rajasthan govt Rs 151 crore

A 10 per cent ‘gau seva’ cess levied on stamp duty has earned the Rajasthan government a whopping amount of Rs 151.50 crore over the last one year. As per data, Rs 138.67 crore has already been spent by the government towards caring for the bovines and maintaining their shelters.

“Under cow conservations rule 2016, the government utilised Rs 126.89 crore to take care of 4.71 lakh bovines in 1,036 cow shelters and altogether Rs 11.79 crore were spent to provide fodder and other facilities in 155 cow shelters,” said the state on behalf of the chief minister’s office (CMO) on Sunday.

Jalore, Pali, and Sirohi districts which have a large number of shelters across the state were given adequate aid through the fund collected.

The statement further stated that Rs 21 crore was spent on rehabilitation of cows in shelters including Pathmedaa, Golasan and Hanuman Nandi in Jalore. Funds were also allocated for shelters set up in Barmer and Udaipur. The state government in 2015-16 had initiated a scheme to provide fodder to the bovines rescued under smuggling operations.

This report comes at a time when the recent floods have resulted in the death of over 500 cows at the Pathmeda Gaushala in Jalore with Congress accusing the government of indulging in only lip service to the state of cow shelters.