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Delhi’s dairies are located in numerous so-called "villages" that dot the city, often hidden behind rows and rows of houses and shops. In many cases the dairies extend to the pavements.
For fodder, the owners simply let the cattle loose. The cows and bulls enter residential areas, cause road accidents or simply squat on busy roads. They have even attacked and killed innocent people.
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Owner of 12 cows and bulls, Sharma had a simple logic: "It’s all a ploy to make more money. These cows and bulls have been roaming around in the streets even before the British came to India. It’s just a temporary gimmick.
"Why do they take away cattle which are safely tethered? We do not mind if they take away the ‘awara’ (homeless) cattle."
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Meher Chand, a south Delhi resident who has four cows and two bull, claimed not to be running a dairy but just "maintaining" a few bovine pets.
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The problem of New Delhi’s rampaging cow population has become so severe that the High Court has issued city authorities with a one-week ultimatum to clear the streets of illegally roaming animals.
The crackdown is likely to end in violence as the owners of the city’s 3,500 illegal street dairies fiercely resist all attempts to round up the beasts.
Although tourists are charmed by the sight of traffic brought to a standstill by cows grazing on the city’s highways, Delhi’s residents are increasingly disgusted by the disruption and danger that cattle pose.
Almost every week new stories of their savagery hit the front pages. Last February, a retired railway official and a maid were gored to death by a wild bull, and in March a Hindu priest was attacked and killed by a cow.
Despite a two-year clean-up campaign, officials estimate 32,000 cows remain. Failure to solve the problem led to this week’s court ultimatum.
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At the heart of the problem are the city’s illegal dairies whose owners allow the cattle to graze untended during the day before rounding them up for milking in the evenings. These small businesses are often protected by powerful local interests, and have responded with gang violence to attempts to confiscate their animals.
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So*. Cows under gang protection. What next? Cows with guns? Ayup.
