No space bar: Mumbai civic body clears proposal for six cow shelters

In Mumbai, a city where space is at a huge premium, the municipal corporation clearly has its priorities sorted. The civic body last week passed a proposal to build one lakh square feet of cow shelters in the city, according to a report in The Indian Express. The proposal to build six cow shelters was moved by a corporator from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Ram Barot, and was passed without any discussion, according to the report. A Samajwadi Party corporator objected to the decision and said although some leaders approached the mayor seeking a chance to speak, they were not allowed to do so, the report states. [caption id=“attachment_2557298” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image. Image courtesy: AFP[/caption] The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC)’s decision comes months after the Maharashtra government revived a law banning beef in the state, sparking off a series of similar bans in other parts of the country. Earlier, Barot, while moving the proposal had said, “There are many homeless cows which need space,” as reported by DNA. The BJP corporator was also reported to have said that cows ‘are holy and this is the least we can do for them.’ However, it is not clear whether the BMC shares the same concern for homeless humans in the city. The 2011 census had found that Mumbai has 57,416 homeless people, according to a report in The Hindu. Further, a senior civic official was reported to have said that ‘owing to the space crunch,’ the municipal corporation had requested lowering of the criteria requiring one shelter per 1 lakh population, which was laid down by the Supreme Court. Moreover, a survey by an NGO Citispace had found that 76 out of the 599 open spaces in the possession of Mumbai’s civic body are either partly or fully encroached upon, as per a report in The Times of India. The encroachments are not just houses, but even shops, teaching classes and gymnasiums, according to the report.