Cattle arriving in city facing extortion
It is very sad that extortion from the vehicles carrying sacrificial animals is going on rampantly on the different routes towards the capital, and the transporters and cattle traders are afraid that this year this very unwelcome phenomenon may cross the limits of the previous years. The people who take undue money from the trucks are commonly three kinds of people: political activists, local goons as well as the law enforcers themselves. The third partys participation in the extortion makes the scenario worse, because they are the persons who are supposed to stop the illegal money collection.
When they indulge in toll collection, other groups of people find inspiration from this and it becomes easier for them to collect the money from the traders. According to reports already published in newspapers at many places police personnel are engaging themselves in extortion activities. This is despite the fact that IG of police recently spoke in strong terms that extortion on the highways would be toughly dealt with. Should we then now take it for granted that IG was not serious about his commitment?
For various reasons, it has been presumed that the prices of cattle would be much higher this season than the previous ones. This is because India has slapped a ban on exporting cows to Bangladesh. But reportedly cows are indeed coming from India through various border points. Even then it is commonly guessed that prices of cows this year may be higher than previous years . When the situation is so, rampant extortion on the highways, acting as a price determining factor, could shoot the prices of sacrificial animals even higher. Therefore, besides legal and ethical reasons, extortion should be controlled vigorously so that traders do not get another opportunity to raise the price of their cattle.
It is not only on the highways that extortion is noted, in the cattle haats also, particularly in the capital, cattle traders are being subjected to this extortion and ultimately the buyers may have to pay more money for the sacrificial animals. This is expressly because the sellers would certainly tend to compensate for the toll collections on the way by demanding more from the buyers.
Therefore, we urge the concerned people including top officials of law enforcing departments as well as political leaders to take effective steps so that extortion is brought down to zero level. If punishment can be swiftly given to the wrong doers, automatically the same will likely create a deterrent effect.
