Photos: UP farmers lock stray cattle in school again

AGRA: The incidents of angry farmers locking up stray cattle in schools and hospitals are continuing unabated in UP. In the latest such incident, farmers from Jikhan village in Mathura barged into a government school on Monday, locked 35 bovines inside the campus and did not allow 110 students to enter in the premises.
Not only this, farmers also locked nearly 50 bovines inside the cremation ground, located at Radhakund.

Similar instances have been reported earlier from Mathura and other parts of the state where farmers had locked up stray cattle in school buildings to protect their crops. In December last, a group of farmers in Mathura and Aligarh led cows and bulls to a local school and a health centre.

Ashok Kumar, a school teacher, said that a herd of cattle was brought to the school by farmers in the morning before the arrival of the teachers and the students. They subsequently locked the main door from outside.
When the teachers requested the farmers to take away the cattle, they refused to do so. Kumar said that he was forced to declare an off for the student, as no one was allowed to enter the premises.

Kumar said, “I informed my seniors, who advised me to call police, but the cops took no action." He said that it’s ironical that while schools are being used as cow shelters, the students are suffering.
Station house Officer, Govardhan police station, SP Singh said, “We immediately rushed to the school after receiving a call and drove the cattle away. But by that time the students had left”.

A farmer, Rakesh Kumar, told media persons, “No one can understand our plight. The cattle are destroying our crops and the administration is doing nothing except making promises of making cow shelters and yet doing nothing to deal with the problem”.