PILIBHIT: The night is its own predator on UP’s highways as it snakes through hiding unseen dangers: speeding trucks, sudden turns, and then, out of nowhere, the dark silhouette of a stray bull, standing still as if daring fate itself. These highways, essential veins of transit, have become ready stages for nocturnal collisions, where cattle and humans lose their lives to a moment’s invisibility.
Last month, UP launched a deceptively simple solution. It taped fluorescent reflective strips around necks and horns of stray cattle. These strips, glowing under a vehicle’s headlights, are meant to save lives in the dark. And they have, said officials, though the claims are yet to be backed by data.
In Pilibhit, where the initiative began, the task of turning bovines into beacons has proven both bold and fraught, with challenges as daunting as the creatures it seeks to protect.
On three major highways – Bareilly-Haridwar NH-74, Pilibhit-Basti NH-730, and Bhind-Lipulekh NH-731 – workers tagged 450 stray bulls with reflective tapes. The initiative, costing Rs 400 per cow or bull, is aimed at making animals visible, particularly those with black coats that blend into the night. “It’s an ambitious project,” said assistant regional transport officer Virendra Singh, who is spearheading the effort. Villagers played a crucial role, not only supporting the initiative but funding much of its cost.
Yet, the effort was anything but smooth. Field teams lacked protective equipment or tranquilisation tools, exposing them to life-threatening attacks from the very animals they were trying to save. “Our personnel succeeded only because of the active support of local villagers,” Singh admitted. “But without proper safety measures, we cannot extend the initiative further.”
Pilibhit’s reflective tape initiative had an earlier inspiration, though. In 2016, NGO Neki Ki Deevar launched a similar effort, tagging 350-odd stray bulls and cows with reflective tapes in Puranpur before extending it to Sitapur and Kheri. However, escalating dangers & logistical shortfalls forced the project to soon halt.