Blue bulls keep Malwa farmers on their toes

Blue bulls keep Malwa farmers on their toes
Rajay Deep/TNS

Bathinda, May 3

The blue bulls (Neel Gai) are giving sleepless nights to the farmers of Bathinda, Muktsar and Ferozepur districts these days. Entering their fields in hordes, these bulls cause a widespread damage to the standing crops. Besides, the blue bulls are also leading to various mishaps while crossing roads in bewilderment.
Though the wildlife and agriculture experts are aware of the problem and also express concern about the loss to farmers and road users, they are not much enthusiastic about taking effective steps to check the same as a community in this belt holds religious sentiments towards this animal.
During a visit to the Bathinda-Abohar road, this correspondent today found two herds of blue bulls — one at village Pakki Tibbi (Muktsar) and another near village Karam Garh (Bathinda). The bulls were destroying the standing wheat crop and also damaging the kinnow plants. The commuters had to stop their vehicles fearing that they may hit the animals crossing the road haphazardly.
Farmers, who have to bear loss of crops due to the blue bulls, lamented, "It is either due to the weather god or the blue bulls that we have to face losses in this season every year."
"Earlier, we used to burn animal excreta to produce a foul smell to keep the blue bulls away, but the latter got immune to it very soon," informed the farmers.
The farmers also disclosed that sometime ago, they had surrounded their fields with live electricity wires but immediately after realising that it was illegal and dangerous to the lives of not only the blue bulls but humans also, they removed it. "As hunting blue bulls is a crime, the officials concerned must either take steps or suggest us on how could we save our crops from their fury," they said.
Divisional Forest Officer, Bathinda, SP Anandh Kumar said, "There are some provisions under which we can go for killing blue bulls. But the conditions, which are mandatory to be followed beforehand, are very complicated. Therefore, we are looking for some other innovative measures to check the problem."