Lucknow, May 30 (PTI) The Uttar Pradesh government on Monday said FIRs under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act will be registered against farmers who abandon their unproductive cattle.

Animal Husbandry Minister Dharampal Singh said, "There is a difference between 'kasai and kisan' (butcher and farmer). We will care for the farmer, not the butcher. FIRs will be lodged under the prevention of cruelty to animals act against those who set their cattle free."

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He was replying to a question by Samajwadi Party MLA Awadhesh Prasad in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly during Question Hour.

Prasad had sought to know the government's plan to check the menace of the stray cattle and compensation to those individuals who are killed by them.

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Singh said, "These are not stray cattle but those set free. Everyone knows who set them free. When a cow gives milk, it is kept and when it stops giving milk it is set free."

The minister further said till May 15, 6,187 cow shelters were made in urban and rural areas of the state and 8,38,015 cattle are kept there.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)