Stray cattle pose problems for the residents of Sambalpur. Telegraph picture

Sambalpur, Oct. 10: Stray cattle have become a problem for citizens here because of the apparent apathy of civic authorities.

“One can see stray cattle wandering on main roads of the city. Sometimes, these animals also sleep on the roads or roam about in the markets causing traffic problems. However, the civic authorities are indifferent to this issue,” said Sarat Banji, a local resident.

“Cattle are seen loitering at Charbhati Chhak, Jailkhana Chhak, Ainthapali Chhak, Golebazar Chhak, Laxmi Talkies Chhak and other markets. With the authorities not taking any initiative to check the menace, the number of such animals is increasing,” said Deva Priyadarshi, a local resident.

“There was a kine house at Modipara. But, the municipality had to close it down because of staff shortage. The civic authorities and the administration have never bothered about reopening the kine house or addressing the stray cattle problem,” said Govind Agrawal, a senior citizen.

“In the past, the civic officials had proposal to pick up stray cattle from roads, but the plan failed. The district administration and the civic body should jointly come up with a solution to the problem,” he said.

Municipality chairperson Reena Trivedi said: “There was a kine house in city but it was closed because of staff crunch. We will request voluntary organisations to help us.”

“We had made announcements several times asking the citizens not to let their cattle out in the open. But it did not work. We will make announcements again and if the problem persists, we will pick up the stray cattle,” said executive officer of the Sambalpur Municipality, Subash Chandra Sathia.