GANDHINAGAR: The Gujarat state Assembly today, September 21, unanimously withdrew the Gujarat Cattle Control In Urban Areas bill (GCCUA) which was targeted at controlling the movement of stray cattle from wandering on the roads and public spaces.

For pastoralists who had fought the law by refusing to supply milk to dairies or sell it on the open market, the decision represents a partial win. The Governor returned the hastily enacted measure on March 31 with a majority vote last week.

Education Minister Jitu Vaghani made the announcement to the media, saying that the state Assembly had unanimously decided to drop the GCCUA law effective September 21.

The state government hurridly approved the aforementioned bill in March after being criticised by the High Court for its failure to address the problem of stray cattle and the rise in tragic incidents in urban areas. It had urged the government to punish severely the "maldharis" who abandoned their animals on public roadways.

The Maldhari Mahapanchayat and its constituent pastoralists were protesting the bill because they felt it was harassing them, according to Nagji Desai, the Mahapanchayat's president. The mahapanchayat issued a call to boycott selling milk in open markets or supplying milk to dairies on Wednesday in protest, and it was well-received.

R.S. Sodhi, the managing director of Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF), responded to the pastoralists' boycott of milk contributions to dairies by saying, "There was no impact on milk procurement. Our normal daily milk procurement is 190 lakh litre milk per day, and on Wednesday the procurement remained the same. There will be no shortage of supply on Thursday, either. Not due to a lack of supplies, but rather due to customers' panic buying, some persons experienced shortages.

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