Ahmedabad: Surat's civic body is ear-tagging stray cattle, giving each animal a "cattle registration number" and linking it to its owner's Aadhaar number, to try and free the city's streets of cows.

The idea is to identify, trace and penalise people for letting their cattle wander on the streets.

So far, the civic body has pinned these plastic tags to the ears of around 25,000 stray cattle, whose "cattle registration numbers" (CRN) have been linked to around 1,500 owners' Aadhaar numbers, said the civic body's market superintendent, Praful Mehta.

"Since the city limits have expanded, this nuisance has grown. I think we are yet to register another 25,000 such stray cattle," he said.

Mehta said the owners' phone numbers and addresses are registered in the database.

"Cattle owners don't come to us voluntarily to get their animals ear-tagged. Therefore, whenever we catch a stray animal, we ear-tag it and give it a CRN," he said.

"When the owner comes to collect his cattle, we register his details and link it with the CRN. If he hasn't an Aadhaar number, we use other documents such as the driving licence."

He added: "When the same tagged animal is caught again, we can trace the owner. The owners do not usually reveal the exact number of cattle they own, but we can use the database to find this out. We then compel him to have all his animals ear-tagged before we release the impounded ones."

According to Mehta, the civic body impounds an average of 70 stray cattle every day. It imposes a fine of Rs 1,850 on the first day - Rs 200 for the ear-tagging, Rs 1,000 as a one-time impounding fee, and Rs 650 a day in administrative and maintenance charges.

Further, police book the owners under Section 289 of the penal code (negligent conduct with respect to animals) and Section 90(a) of the Bombay Police Act, which prescribes a fine and/or one to six months' jail for allowing one's cattle to roam the streets.

"If, after a policeman has noted down its CRN, a stray animal runs away before the arrival of the impounding team, we can still trace and penalise the owner as the CRN is linked to his details," Mehta, who is in charge of veterinary and food hygiene in the city, said.

Cattle owners of Surat, however, are known to attack civic teams trying to impound their animals. A civic team had to stay put in its vehicle for over an hour last month after a mob allegedly attacked it for impounding a stray cow.

Mehta said the Aadhaar-linked database can reveal whether the owner is a repeat offender and whether he has been involved in attacks on civic staff in the past.

"We do not release the cattle if the owner is caught for the fourth time. The fine increases with every offence," he said.

"Since we now know the history of the offences, the owners are careful not to repeat the act."

Mehta said the civic authorities of Ahmedabad and Rajkot had sought details of Surat's system.