With rising demands for cattle from neighbouring Bangladesh, smuggling of cattle continues unabated in the state. The illegal supply of cattle to Bangladesh presently is a flourishing business, which yields several crores of rupees per day.
Cattle smuggling has been going unchecked in the state since very long. It is alleged that the business mushroomed under the previous Congress government in the state and it was expected that there would be a check into it once the BJP comes to power. However, what has been witnessed is just the opposite. The business today is flourishing at twice the rate compared to the previous government.
Under the Congress regime, cattle were smuggled to Bangladesh either through the road or by river via Mankachar and South Salmara. Under the BJP-led coalition government in Assam, only the smuggling ways have changed and rest everything has remained just the same.
It may be mentioned here that the income rate under the present government has increased by manifolds. Earlier the income was in the house of lakhs, however, presently it goes up to several cores of rupees.
It has been alleged that the various departments like police, transport and animal husbandry are patronising these illegal movement of cattle from Assam to Bangladesh in return of some lakhs and crores of rupees given by the cattle smugglers.
It is worth mentioning here that cattle-laden trucks continue to enter Assam unabated from West Bengal and it is rampant mostly at the Srirampur area along the Assam-West Bengal border. The flow of entry of trucks increases every evening from 7 pm.
It is worth mentioning here that with the festival of Eid round the corner, the entry of such trucks has increased in numbers and presently around 80-100 trucks enter Assam from West Bengal.
