Cows sheltered in the goshala at the temple at Changalera of Humnabad taluk in the district are in a pitiable plight for the past one month.

The cows are offered to the temple by devotees to fulfil vows. But they are dying one by one due to the unavailability of green grass.

The lack of proper maintenance of the goshala has resulted in the calves being fed dry grass, which cannot be digested easily, thus weakening them physically, said Sunil Garal, a resident of the village.

Calves also feed on cooked rice offered by devotees. Their stomachs bloat as cooked rice is not considered good for their health and there have been deaths of calves due to this, said Ashok Veerappa, president of the Changalera Gram Panchayat. He says that there are many staffers in the temple, but no one has an idea as to what their work is.

Two calves died on Friday evening and a number of others have been ill, creating panic among the village residents.

A number of cows have injury marks on their bodies due to lack of proper care or treatment.

The goshala is home to 30 cows and 80 calves and the temple is under the care of the assistant commissioner of Basavakalyan, who is the temple administrator. The temple comes under the department of religious endowments. 

No arrangement
What is adding to the problem is that there is no arrangement to shift the carcasses of the calves out of the goshala. This has resulted in stray dogs feeding on the carcasses, raising the risk of epidemics.  People in the village are of the opinion that it would have been better for the cattle had there been no goshala as they would then not have been gifted to the temple by the people.

Efforts by the village residents to contact the assistant commissioner and the Humnabad tahsildar in this regard have proved futile.

They say it would be better to close down the goshala. The government had closed down all goshalas in the district last June, but spared this one.