The Uttar Pradesh government has decided to conduct a census of cows in the state, reported The Hindu on Tuesday.

The census is aimed at finding out the number of destitute animals with cattle rearers, abandoned cows on the streets and kanha upvans, which are shelters designed for animals in Uttar Pradesh.

“In the first phase, these cows will be counted,” read a statement by the Adityanath government. “In the next phase, a plan will be formulated and implemented to ensure they are provided with suitable accommodation.”

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The census of cows will be followed by their geo-tagging, the statement added.

According to the 20th Livestock Census conducted by the Central government in 2019, Uttar Pradesh had over 1.90 crore cattle, reported Hindustan Times. Of the total, 11.84 lakh were stray cattle and are being protected in 6,889 destitute cattle breeding sites. The census also said that 1.85 lakh cows have been handed over to gau sevaks under the Mukhyamantri Sahbhagita Yojana’ for cow protection.

However, the number of cattle is believed to have changed since 2019.

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Meanwhile, Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to question the state government over the assessment of the work being done at cow shelters.

“The Bharatiya Janata Party government should give clarification for stray animals,” he wrote. “How many people were killed or injured due to stray animals during BJP rule? How many stray animals are there in the cow sheds that have been opened? When was the work of Gaushalas assessed and what were its results?”