NEW DELHI, Aug. 6 (Xinhua) -- At least 500 cows have died at a government-run shelter in India's western state of Rajasthan, local media reported Saturday.
The deaths took place during the past two weeks allegedly due to the negligence of officials at Hingonia cow shelter in Jaipur, the capital city of Rajasthan.
"More than 500 cows have died in the last two weeks," a local TV news channel NDTV quoted volunteers at the shelter as saying.
According to officials 266 laborers engaged as contractual workers at the cow shelter went on strike last month demanding their salaries, which have been withheld since May.
The cows were thus left unattended.
Government veterinarian Devendra Kumar Yadav told media most of the cows have died from starvation.
"They have not been properly fed and that is the reason behind most of the deaths," Yadav said.
Officials were yet to disclose the death count of the cows at the country's biggest cow shelter and blamed rains for the deaths.
"All the city's sick cows are brought here and the other reason being ongoing heavy rains (monsoon)," Bhagwat Singh Dewal, chairman of the shelter said.
According to Dewal around 20 cows die at the shelter every day.
Dewal also admitted the laborers' salaries were being withheld.
The shelter is said to have a yearly budget of about 3 million U.S. dollars.
Rajasthan is run by Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) and has a minister in charge of cow affairs in the state.
Majority of Hindus consider cow to be sacred, and its slaughtering is banned in most Indian states.
To defend cows, groups under the patronage of rightwing Hindu organizations have come up in rural areas of India to protect them and stop sale of beef.
The vigilantism around cows, however, seems to have intensified since 2014, the year BJP ascended to power under the leadership of Narendra Modi.
Deadly attacks on people on suspicion of carrying beef have seen an increase across Indian states.
Last month four Dalit men believed to be tannery workers were assaulted by the cow vigilantes while they were trying to skin a dead cow in Una town of Gujarat state.
The attack triggered massive protests after video of these men went viral.
Last year, a 50-year-old man was beaten to death and his son injured by a Hindu mob at Dadri in Uttar Pardesh, over rumors that the family was eating beef.
Cow slaughtering is a sensitive issue in India and sometimes flares up communal passions.
