The staff of the Hingonia Gaushala in Jaipur have not been paid their salaries for three months now. In response, the entire staff - including the veterinarian doctors - are on strike.
Even as the salary issue remains unresolved, hundreds of cows have died in the Gaushala due to lack of care and increasingly unhygienic conditions.
The issue came to light on Friday after the Rajasthan High Court sought a report from the state government on the death of the cows and ordered action against officials responsible for the cowshed, said a Dainik Jagran report.
Hingonia Gaushala is home to around 8,000 cows, managed by a team of 14 veterinary doctors, 24 staff assistants and 200 other workers.
An ANI report suggests that the primary reason for the death of the cows is shoddy upkeep of their quarters and malnutrition, due to the workers' strike - which has been ongoing since July 21.
However, in a statement to The Indian Express, Rajasthan’s CMO denied negligence as the cause of the deaths, asserting that most of the bovines were old and infirm already.
The Hingonia Gaushala is a well-funded cow shelter. ₹10.78 crore was spent on the cowshed in 2015-16, which is almost ₹7 crore higher than the amount spent in 2011-12.
Approximately, ₹7.60 crore was also invested in developing the infrastructure of the cow shelter in 2014.
Rajasthan government is yet to send a report of the incident to the high court.
