Goats detained for eating saplings, owner fined

In a bizarre incident, the police in Huzurabad town in Telangana’s Karimnagar district detained two goats for grazing saplings planted by a local NGO.

The goats were set free after the owner, Rajaiah, paid Rs 1,000 fine. The town police, however, did not register a case and let off Rajaiah, a resident of Kummarivada, with a warning to not let his goats graze on saplings planted under the government’s flagship Harithaharam programme.

According to Huzurabad police inspector V Madhavi, Rajaiah has been grazing his goats close to a local college. On Tuesday, the goats strayed into the college premises and ate saplings that were planted recently under the greenery programme.

Two activists of NGO Save the Trees caught the goats and brought them to the police station. The activists alleged that the two goats have grazed about 150 of China Badam (wild almond) saplings.

When Rajaiah appeared before the police on Wednesday morning, he was advised to remit the fine amount in the municipal office and produce a receipt to freed his goats.

Municipal commissioner J Isampelli said that the town aims to plant 20 lakh plants under the Haritaharam programme. Open spaces, road margins, compounds of schools and colleges and hospitals were among the placed marked for planting these saplings. The city observes every Friday as "Greenbelt Day".