500 cows starve to death in Rajasthan cow shelter after workers go on strike

About 500 cows have died at a Rajasthan government-run cattle shelter near the state capital over the last two weeks, reportedly.

All the contractual workers at the Hingonia cow shelter have been on strike since July 21 because they haven’t been paid their dues for May and June.

However there is no official count of the number of cows that have died. The shelter houses about 8,000 cows and it is believed that most of the cows have died from starvation.

The salaries of the workers were held up because of a dispute between the Jaipur Municipal Corporation and the firm through which the workers are hired to clean the cow sheds and feed the animals.

The Rajasthan High Court has sought a report from the government, local media reports. Congress has attacked the ruling state government BJP, calling it sheer negligence towards the bovines.