Uttar Pradesh engineers asked to catch stray cattle during Yogi Adityanath's 'Ganga Yatra'

Uttar Pradesh engineers, it seems, have nothing better to do and so they have now been asked to catch stray cattle during the ongoing ‘Ganga Yatra’ being undertaken by senior BJP leaders and ministers including Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.

The junior engineers of the Public Works Department have been directed to be present along the route to be taken by Adityanath during the ‘Yatra’ in Mirzapur district on Wednesday. The engineers were directed to carry ropes with them and catch the stray cattle and ensure that they did not come on to the roads and disrupt the ‘yatra’. The written order issued by the PWD executive engineer, however, did not state if the junior engineers are required to let the stray cattle loose again after the chief minister’s cavalcade passed by.

The directive triggered resentment in the rank and file of the junior engineers and their union shot off a letter to the state government stating that they were not ‘trained’ in catching the stray cattle.

“The engineers will not be responsible if someone gets hurt while they try to catch the stray cattle... We are not trained for such a job,’’ one of the Union leaders said.

Stray cattle has turned out to be a big menace in the state after the closure of the unlicensed slaughterhouses by the BJP government. The farmers, whose crops have been destroyed by the cattle, often locked them in the school buildings to build pressure on the government to resolve the problem