Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa announced on Monday that gaushalas will be established in all 31 districts of the state to prevent 'slaughter of cows and to protect livestock'. The announcement was made in the Karnataka Assembly as CM Yediyurappa announced the state budget for the financial year 2021-22.
The announcement comes after the Karnataka government formulated stringent anti-cattle slaughter law that prohibits the slaughter and sale of nearly all forms of cattle.
The Karnataka Prevention of Slaughter and Protection of Cattle Bill was passed in the Legislative Assembly in December 2020 and in the Legislative Council in February this year. It replaced the older 1964 law prohibiting some forms of cattle slaughter in the state.
The bill allows the slaughter of buffalos above the age of 13, but beef traders in the state say they have been badly hit by the new law.
Yediyurappa added that a new research institute will be established at Veterinary College, Shivamogga at the cost of Rs 2 crore to encourage ayurvedic medicine in veterinary science. Yediyurappa also said that no new taxes were levied by the state government for this year.
In Dakshina Kannada district's Kenjar, the district administration shifted a gaushala built illegally on government land on the outskirts of Mangaluru city. BJP State President Nalin Kumar Kateel said that a gaushala will be established in a different area and said that action was taken on the gaushala in Kenjar since it was built illegally.
Zoo officials in Karnataka have asked for an exemption from the beef ban to feed the tigers.