Actor Rupali Ganguly, known for her role in “Anupamaa,” has joined PETA India in urging West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to ban horse-drawn carriages in Kolkata. The call to action follows the deaths of eight horses allegedly overworked in the carriage industry.
Ganguly points out that in recent months, at least eight horses have dropped dead on Kolkata’s streets – they were worked to death by the carriage industry. Investigations by PETA India and the CAPE Foundation have documented that dozens of horses forced to haul carriages in Kolkata have been found to be anaemic, malnourished, and chronically starved; suffering from severe injuries, including bone fractures; and forced to live amid their own waste on filthy, decrepit, and illegally occupied premises in the city.
“The use of horses for carriage rides poses a risk to the public and a traffic hazard, too,” writes Ganguly. “Both horses and humans have been seriously injured. Appallingly, horses who sustain painful, serious injuries are often simply abandoned.”
This effort follows appeals from over 150 veterinarians and PETA India. Following complaints from PETA India, the Animal Welfare Board of India directed Kolkata police and the Directorate of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Services to conduct an enquiry into cruelty to horses and ensure that the animals are provided with necessary medical care, removed from the trade, and rehabilitated as required, noting that cruelty to animals is a violation of Section 3 of The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (PCA) Act, 1960, and a punishable offence under Section 11(1) of the PCA Act and Section 289 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860.
In May, the Hon’ble Calcutta High Court directed the West Bengal state government to present a proposal for rehabilitating horse owners and providing them with an alternative livelihood to hauling tourists in victoria carriages so that “dispensing with the horse drawn carriages as done in Mumbai can be considered and examined for its feasibility”. In Mumbai, beautiful heritage-style e-carriages have replaced horse-drawn carriages.
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