New Delhi:
Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav today targeted the Yogi Adityanath government over stray cattle menace, terming a road in Uttar Pradesh “Oxpress way” after dozens of stray oxen were seen slowing down the traffic.
He also shared a video showing cars queued up behind the group of oxen, waiting the cattle to move aside.
ये है उप्र में बना दुनिया का पहला ‘ऑक्सप्रेस वे’ (OXPRESS WAY)… जिसका उद्घोष है ‘आपकी जान, आपके हाथ’. pic.twitter.com/jrtvw6FdEd
— Akhilesh Yadav (@yadavakhilesh) January 20, 2024
“This is the world’s first ‘OXPRESS WAY’ built in Uttar Pradesh… whose slogan is ‘Aapki Jaan, Aapke Haath’,” he wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
Mr Yadav had been targeting the state government over stray cattle menace.
Last year, a farmer was forced to stay atop a tree for two hours to save himself from a bull attack, prompting the Samajwadi Party chief to claim that the police were needed to protect people from stray cattle.
“Today’s ‘Saand Samachar’: To save his life from the bull, the farmer climbed the tree for two hours,” he had posted online, adding that “Today’s ‘Saand Vichar’: Now, a ‘Saand Raksha Police’ should also be formed in Uttar Pradesh.”
The problem of stray cattle damaging crops and attacking people had become a major poll issue in the 2022 Uttar Pradesh polls.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, then campaigning in the state, had promised a new system to deal with stray cattle problems.