Union minister says equines should instead be replaced with battery-operated carts as they are a source of a highly contagious disease called glanders.
New Delhi: Union minister Maneka Gandhi has urged Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Mufti to phase out the 5,000-plus horses and ponies used for transportation of goods and people to the Vaishno Devi shrine.
These equines should be instead replaced with battery-operated carts on the Mata Vaishno Devi track, Gandhi — who is known for her commitment to animal welfare — said in a letter written Thursday.
Several pilgrims opt to cover the 12-13 km journey to the holy shrine on horses, ponies, mules and donkeys, which Gandhi has written, are a source of a highly contagious and communicable zoonotic disease called glanders.
“The equine owners are at the greatest risk of being exposed to the deadly glanders virus which has no cure anywhere in the world. The person who contracts it from a horse/mule dies of flu-like symptoms,” the letter read.
Given that it is “next to impossible” to provide veterinary services across the track, “equine owners earn a small income but suffer huge and repeated losses due to mortality of animals”, Gandhi said.
Last year, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) had ordered the Jammu and Kashmir government to ensure that horses and mules are slowly removed from the path. Later, the state chief secretary filed a draft rehabilitation plan for the horses and mules before the green panel, which is yet to be implemented.
Last month, the court imposed a Rs 50-lakh fine on the state for non-compliance of its order.
The rehabilitation plan contains provisions for alternative livelihood for the equine owners. Gandhi, in her letter to Mufti, has also stated that the battery-operated carts meant to replace the equines can be run by the same people who used these animals — thereby giving them an alternative source of income.
Earlier, the NGT had also restricted the number of pilgrims at Vaishno Devi at 50,000 per day and asked the authorities to levy “environment compensation” — a fine of Rs 2,000 — on anyone found littering the roads in the area, inviting criticism for what was seen as judicial overreach.