Kolkata, Jan 1 (IANS) You could call it their pension! Horses retiring from a West Bengal police training college now have a new home to spend their twilight years along with other comforts.
Fourteen ageing animals that have served for years have not ended up pariahs or been slaughtered like their predecessors. Instead the green acres of Ashari, an animal hospital-cum-shelter on the eastern fringes of Kolkata, run by Maneka Gandhi’s People for Animal (PFA), is now their home.
“They have served for years. Now it is only human to pension them off instead of slaughtering them after they turn infirm. So we have welcomed them in our shelter,” Debasis Chakrabarti, the managing trustee of PFA Calcutta, told IANS.
The 14 horses till the other day were residents of the Police Training College, Barrackpore here.
The West Bengal finance department has also okayed the proposal to contribute to the fodder fund of the horses of the riding school of the Police Training College.
“In a way you can say the government is providing them pension. The PFA has pledged to take total responsibility of the animals, while suggesting that the police provide part of the feeding expenditure of Rs.32 a day per horse. Each horse will need Rs.88 per day with funds coming from public donations in India, Australia and France.
“The government agreed and so the Rs.32 they are providing is like one third of their maintenance. A retired government employee gets the same facility, isn’t it?” asked Chakrabarti.
In fact the gesture of the state government inspired animal activists in Australia to demand the same from their government.
“Noted Australian animal rights activist Phil Wollen is citing West Bengal government decision to demand a similar policy for the horses Down Under,” said Chakrabarti.
In August 2006, G.C. Dutt, then deputy inspector-general of police (training) of the Police Training College, had written to PFA, asking for “the cost of taking care of these horses until death”.
Chakrabarti said: “This is a heart warming gesture and should be an eye-opener for many other institutes saddled with infirm animals.”
The horses arrived at Ashari Dec 26. They will be kept in an “exclusive, free-roaming” 5,000-sq-ft paddock with a 1,000 sq ft shed, with a provision for walks on the Ashari campus, spread over 4.4 acres.
The horses were carried to Ashari on police trucks after being seen off by DIG (Training) Sanjay Singh.
The incident can be an eye opener for the Mounted Police unit of Kolkata Police too. Often the problems of the horses retiring from the Mounted Police are never-ending. Post retirement, they are deprived of proper food and live a condemned life.
Kolkata Mounted Police is one of the oldest equestrian police forces in the world. Ninety-eight horses are sanctioned for the unit.