Team Herald
MARGAO: Stray cattle menace has resurfaced again in different parts of the Salcete with one person losing his life and five others sustaining injuries in bovine related mishaps over the last 45 days.
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With no owners to care for such animals, cattle wander the streets during the day and at nights squat along the highways and interior roads and refuse to budge posing danger to all road users. This often results in obstruction to the free movement of traffic and road mishaps.
A 26-year-old pillion rider from Benaulim died enroute to hospital last month while the rider sustained serious injuries after the bike on which they were travelling dashed against a cow.
Colva Police stated that while Manoranjan Kumar Singh passed away that day, the bike rider Kusheshwar Kumar from Seraulim suffered serious injuries.
Police revealed that the mishap occurred when Kumar and Manorajan were proceeding from Benaulim to Per Seraulim at night and on reaching Colva, Kumar bumped into a cow due to the duo were flung by metres. Meanwhile, two minors from Bali became victims of cattle menace last Thursday and had to be hospitalised for major injuries. While the 13-year-old boy has been shifted to the Goa Medical College and Hospital (GMC), Bambolim, his 17-year-old sister has been hospitalised at the South Goa District Hospital, Margao . Police stated that the siblings had come to Bali to make some household purchases and met with an accident when they banged into the cattle which had squatted on the road.
Besides, the two people who were proceeding home on a scooter were knocked down by stray cattle near Darmapur.
In the heart of the Margao town, animals feast on discarded vegetables and fruits dumped by the traders and refuse to move from the area resulting in minor accidents at the Gandhi Market.
The vegetable waste strewn all over is said to be another reason for the proliferation of stray cattle in the town.
Cattle are a nuisance in the Gogol Housing Board, Borda near Chandor, Seraulim-Bali and other places as they often squat on the roads holding traffic to ransom.
Senior citizens say that the concerned authorities should impound stray cattle and also penalise the owners.
