Though the district administration has claimed that chicken, mutton and eggs will be delivered at the doorsteps of Guwahatians from 17th April, many city residents are disappointed alleging that the system is unplanned and if the vendors allotted for the work are not delivering the items there was no need of coming up with such plans whereby the expectations of many meat lovers have bitten the dust.
Kedar Nath, a resident of Jyotikuchi, talking to G Plus said, “If the delivery system is not smooth, the administration should not have started it. People expect and try to contact the number provided by the administration, but no one responds. It is disappointing and looks rather unplanned.”
Similarly, many residents of the city, talking to G Plus, alleged that none of the numbers of the mutton vendors are functioning, and the claims made by district administration looks like a hoax.
The district administration had issued numbers of venders from different locations in the city – Paltan Bazar, Khanapara, Lakhara, Noonmati, Ganeshguri, Beltola, Lalganesh, BHangagarh and Jalukbari.
The customers complained that none of the vendors receive calls; their mobile phones are either switched off or busy. A resident somehow managed to contact a vendor of Lal Ganesh on 17th April, and the vendor took the order promising him that the mutton will be delivered on 18th morning. The customer, on 18th, tried contacting the vendor many times but the vendor did not receive the call. The same issue was faced by many mutton lovers across the city.
A senior official of the Kamrup (Metro) district administration, talking to G Plus, said that the livestock and poultry corporation does not have the meat item in sufficient quantity to fulfill all the orders. Therefore, the vendors have switched off their phones. The vendors are receiving huge number of calls and because they are not being able to meet the demand, they have switched off their phones. The official said that it is an emergency situation so people need to have patience.
G Plus also talked to the officials of the livestock and poultry corporation. A senior official, Pankaj Borah, talking to G Plus said, “The entire system will be smooth within a few hours.” He explained that because of the lockdown it is difficult to get skilled manpower, but still within few hours they (corporation) have managed to train some and very soon the customers will get the meat products delivered at their doorsteps. He said that the mutton has to be processed and sold maintaining proper hygiene. Also, the mutton comes from different districts and it has to be carried in refrigerated trucks.
Due to the storm there were difficulties in the transportation of the meat till 17th April. “Today (18th April) we received 1,000 kilos of mutton,” said the official adding that the mutton is now getting packed hygienically. He said there is a demand of around 800 kilos from the public and it will be delivered by 19th April.
He said that the vendors are getting around 300 to 500 calls per hour which compelled them to switch off their mobile phones. Therefore the livestock corporation is taking online orders. “There should have been a toll free number but because it is not there, the customers are facing problems. Soon it will be resolved,” said the official.
The chicken delivery is not a major issue but many residents have alleged that many local vendors in the locality are selling chicken but at a higher price – Rs 200 per kilo for undressed chicken.
Many customers are aware that it is an emergency situation but their only grievance is that if there is a process it should be planned or else it should not be started because expectations are unnecessarily raised.