Shivraj Govt Announces Golf Course on 100-acre Cow Grazing Land, Congress Fumes

Bhopal: Two days after the state government announced a cow ministry in Madhya Pradesh, the Congress on Tuesday accused it of selling land used for grazing cows to develop an upmarket golf course.

The Congress targeted the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government for doling out a 100-acre land that was being used to graze cows.

The Madhya Pradesh government recently approved a sprawling golf course in Bhopal. However, the choice of land for the project hasn’t gone down well with the Congress.

The principal opposition party has accused the ruling BJP of putting land meant for cows at stake to let bureaucrats play golf.

The golf course has been planned on a 100-acre land close to Kerwa Dam area in Bhopal. The land, however, approved by the Shivraj government is part of the 600-acre Bull Mother Farm and adjoining Central Semen Station.

The facility houses 600 cows and bulls and breeds superior cows at the farm. In the past, the Animal Husbandry Department, too, has expressed its reservations against handing over this land to any other department.

However, discarding the objections raised within its ranks, the MP government has planned to give away the land.

Now, the project has given the Congress some much needed ammunition to attack the BJP government in the election year.

Accusing the BJP of being double-faced, MPCC president Kamal Nath targeted the BJP saying they only talk about gaushalas and cow ministries around the elections but gives away cow grazing land for golf courses, discarding voices of dissent within.

Confirming the decision, cabinet minister Narottam Mishra told News18 that the chief minister had raised a couple of issues and after resolving them the project has been approved.

Shielding the MP government on the move, revenue minister Umashankar Gupta said that both cow shelters and golf courses were “necessary". Stating that other states have golf courses of their own, which MP does not have, Gupta said the project has been sanctioned to promote sports in the state.

Claiming that the facility won’t be developed at the expense of cows, Gupta said the land has been sanctioned keeping aside the grazing land at the said facility.