Four groups of animal rights activists and stray cattle lovers, under the banner of People for Animals, are working to arrange water for cows, buffaloes and bulls, who are facing difficulty with the rise in temperature and the resultant increase in heat.

In the last two days, People for Animals have installed 20 concrete pots meant to provide water and food at different locations of Dhanbad and are planning to install at least 30 more in the district.

Rana Ghosh, a bookseller in Dhanbad, said: “There are over 20 members with People for Animals in Dhanbad and some of us, including Sanjay Ganguly, Roshan Kumar, Devmalya Bose, Akash Kumar and Sewasree Roy, have decided to do something for strays such as cattle and dogs, who are facing difficult times in this scorching heat because of lack of water sources. Therefore we decided to install the pots.”

He added: “We started the work on Saturday from Bank Mor area and installed 10 water pots in Bank Mor Market, Purana Bazar and Joraphatak Road and on Sunday we installed same number of pots at Hirapur besides Court Mor and Luby Circular Road. During the installation of a water pot near Randhir Verma Chowk, a police team led by DSP (law and order) Mukesh Kumar helped us in the installation.”

Since all the pots have been placed in areas which have water sources such as taps, hand pumps, wells, filling the pots with fresh water daily will not be an issue for residents.

“During the installation process, people in the vicinity of each site appreciated our efforts and assured us that they will also fill the pots regularly on their own,” said Ghosh, adding they will be installing similar concrete water pots at Saraidhela area, which includes Steel Gate and Gol Building, on Monday.

“The pots can also be used for providing food leftovers to the strays, as cattle and dogs are primarily dependent on leftovers from roadside eateries. We request people to keep their kitchen leftovers in the pots,” said Singh.