Lucknow, Feb 7 (IANS): In order to give a mass base to the campaign for cows, the Yogi Adityanath government has announced that local people should be involved in maintenance and upkeep of cow shelters.

According to a government spokesperson, "The government has prepared a scheme to generate employment through cow shelters and connect locals with their management and maintenance. Along with management of the shelters, local people should also be involved with looking after the cattle, their vaccination and sanitation in the shelters. They can use cow dung and urine for the manufacture of various products and also carry out plantation near the shelters."

There are currently 5,150 cow shelters in the state where about 5.21 lakh cattle, out of a total of 11.84 lakh stray cattle in the state, are kept.

The government is also giving grants for building of cow conservation centres.

In rural areas, there are more than 180 large cow conservation centres while in urban areas, 400 'Kanha' gaushalas and 'Kanha' upvans have been set up. More than 98.34 lakh cattle has been tagged in the state.

The Chief Minister has also asked experts to work on the improvement of the breed of cattle.