Stray cattle on the Jayadev Vihar-Nandankanan road. Picture by Ashwinee Pati

The civic body Bhubaneswar, Sept. 5: officials are on their toes to remove stray cattle and dogs from the roads through which president Pranab Mukherjee’s convoy will pass during his two-day tour of the state beginning tomorrow.

Stray cattle, particularly bulls, have been a major threat to the life and limbs of commuters in the city. Last month, a lawyer was gored to death by a bull at Badagada. Four people suffered injuries in other incidents of bull attacks in the recent past.

To add to woes of the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation, their only cattle catcher has been damaged beyond repair. Besides, infrastructure problem in the city’s only kine house at Kharavela Nagar has also forced the authorities to think of alternative ways of confining cattle after catching them.

“We are trying our best to remove cattle from the routes through which the president’s convoy will pass,” said Sumita Behera, assistant commissioner (recovery) of the corporation.

Another corporation official, who is in-charge of stray dog control, has also started catching dogs from city streets. A team has already been formed to catch dogs.

The president will arrive here from Puri on Saturday. He is scheduled to go to the Institute of Minerals and Materials Technology at Acharya Vihar to attend the convocation of the Indian Institute of Technology, Bhubaneswar.

He is also supposed to go to the Raj Bhavan to have lunch. He will attend the convocation of the Bharatyia Vidya Bhavan at the auditorium of the Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar, in the afternoon.

The President will leave the XIMB campus for the airport in the evening.

The Puri Municipality has also geared up their cattle and stray dog catching drive, as the President will reach the holy town tomorrow evening. He will go to the Jagannath temple for darshan of the Lord on Saturday morning.

“We have formed a team to remove all the stray cattle and dogs from the roads for smooth movement of the President during his stay here,” said chairperson of Puri Municipality Shantilata Pradhan.

Apart from the stray animal catching drives, the civic bodies of both Bhubaneswar and Puri have taken steps to clean and beautify the stretches through which the President’s convoy will pass.

Road dividers and medians are being given a fresh coat of paint, while garbage is being removed from the roadside.

“The roads of our city will speak volumes about our civic sense. We will do everything to ensure that the President’s path is free from eyesores,” said an employee of the corporation.