Dr. Navjot Kaur Sidhu Former MLA (East) | Former Chief Parliamentary Secretary, Punjab\n\nPunjab today stands at a critical crossroads where governance, compassion, and public safety must walk hand in hand. The growing menace of stray animals on roads is no longer just an animal welfare issue—it has become a serious concern for human lives, farmers’ livelihoods, and urban safety.\n\nLarge tracts of government land originally earmarked for cattle welfare and gaushalas have unfortunately fallen prey to encroachments. This has directly contributed to the rise in stray cattle on highways and city roads, resulting in frequent accidents, loss of precious lives, and immense suffering—both human and animal.\n\nThere is an urgent need for systematic action:\n • Reclaiming public land meant for animal welfare\n • Scientific registration and tagging of stray cattle\n • Transparent accounting of cow cess collections and their utilisation\n • Strengthening gaushalas and animal shelters across Punjab\n • Ensuring accountability for those abandoning animals on roads\n\nPunjab has always believed in inclusive welfare, where compassion is not selective and governance is not reactive but preventive. Any serious government must protect both its people and its voiceless beings through planning, enforcement, and empathy—not tokenism.\n\nPublic representatives, civil society, and religious organisations must work together to ensure that Punjab’s roads are safe, its animals protected, and its public resources used for the purpose they were meant for.\n\nPunjab deserves governance that listens, acts, and delivers—rooted in humanity, responsibility, and constitutional values.\n\n— Dr. Navjot Kaur Sidhu