Palanpur, Sep 23 : Traffic on the North Gujarat highways came to halt on Friday after over 200 Panjrapole (cow shelter homes) trustees released thousands of cows in protest against the state government's failure to grant Rs 500 crore financial assistance for running the shelter homes. Banaskantha Panjrapoles trustee Kishor Dave told the media that since the last 15 days, the trustees are protesting and demanding financial assistance as promised in the state budget for the year 2022-23. As their repeated pleas fell on deaf ears, the trustees on Thursday released thousands of cows on the state and national highways besides government premises in North Gujarat. There are 1,500 panjrapole in the state giving shelter to around 4.5 lakh cows, alone in Banaskantha, 170 panjrapole shelter 80,000 cows. Panjrapole trust have to bear Rs 60 to 70 per cattle per day to feed them. Post Covid, donations to Panjrapole have dried up, and without funds it is becoming difficult to run shelter homes. If the government does not release funds at the earliest, the agitation will take an aggressive turn. /IANS