GUWAHATI: Back in 2014, the Guwahati Municipal Corporation decided to implement Slaughter House laws, 2012 in Guwahati to ensure scientific and painless slaughter of livestock keeping in mind the Supreme Court of India’s orders.
Arrangements were made and discussions were held with meat association to follow the set rules.
Initially, meat traders of Beltola, Six-mile, Ganeshguri and Basistha were urged to take animals for slaughter to the slaughter house of NEC Food Processing Pvt Ltd at Khanapara. The slaughter house set by GMC at Khanapara is currently run by NEC Food Processing Pvt Ltd on lease.
The laws set by GMC ruled out open selling of meat, maintaining hygiene and it urged meat sellers to arrange for glass and net covers while selling meat.
The matter is not about just cutting the animals and selling the meat. There is some amount of scientific and logical reasoning behind the arguments according to the officials. Also, Guwahati being a metropolitan city cannot have age-old practices of meat business; with times everything has to change.
“Scientific techniques such as postmortem and ante-mortem are carried out in the slaughter house. Ante-mortem is carried out to identify the fit animal viable to slaughter and leaving out the dead and aged animals. Postmortem is carried out to identify carcasses which are fit for consuming,” GMC Veterinary Officer Dr Manoj Kr Goswami said.
However, even after setting laws and slaughter house to ensure safe consumption of hygienic meat, meat traders in the city are crying foul over the way of working of GMC, which traders termed as unprofessional and a conspiracy to force meat traders out of business.
“First of all it has become utter disappointing doing business with GMC and the private company running the slaughter house on lease. The GMC-run slaughter house has the continuous tendency to supply poor meat to the traders. This has caused trouble in our business as customers have been complaining about poor quality of meat. In a certain instance in February this year, we found that aged goats were about to be supplied to us. We refuted to take the supply at that time. Among 100 goats about to be supplied to us only 19 were found fit for slaughter at that time,” Meat Association General Secreatry, Maqbul Ahmed told G-Plus.
“The other procedures set by GMC are equally tricky. Unlike in Guwahati, meat traders in Tezpur are having a good time. Doctors verify the quality of the goats and meat and deliver the supply to the traders in their presence. However, here in Guwahati sellers and traders are not allowed to stay in the slaughter house when the goats are being slaughtered. So there is every possibility of interchange of meat. We are handed over the meat after 8-9 hours and we are unable to supply fresh meat to the customers. We are charged Rs.125 per goat here, while in Tezpur Authorities charge Rs.50 per shift irrespective of the numbers of goats. Moreover licenses of meat traders are not being renewed from March this year,” Ahmed said.
“The GMC had arbitrarily shut down three meat shops. There were proper glass covers in the meat shops and the meat was kept in a hygienic condition. It would be difficult for the GMC without our cooperation.
After we went on a strike by shutting down the meat shops for an indefinite time, GMC officials found no way out and even decided to sell the meat outside the slaughter house on their own, but they failed to attract customers. Meat shops at Garo Market at Ulubari have been selling fish instead. Customers willing to eat meat are relishing the fish instead,” Ahmed added.
Members of the meat association alleged that even after several rounds of discussions with the GMC and NEC Food Processing Pvt. Ltd no results have been seen on ground.
The slaughter house located at Khanapara has the ability to slaughter 1500 goats, 4500 chickens, and 100 pigs per shift. At present the Slaughter House is working at 50 per cent of its capacity.
Latest Development
The long drawn battle between the meat traders of Guwahati and the city administration has taken another turn, as neither the meat traders nor the administration is ready to endorse each other’s appeals. The meat traders had called on a strike to shut down shutters of meat shops indefinitely in protest against GMC’s act to evict three meat shops in the city without prior notice. But keeping the puja sentiments in mind they withdrew it later. As soon as the puja festivities got over, the Greater Guwahati Qureshi Meat Association decided to resume the strike from Monday.
“After a meeting during puja the association decided to call off the strike till Sunday. Customers informed us that they were facing inconvenience during puja holidays due to shutting of meat shops. While we endorse high court’s order to provide fresh and hygienic meat to customers but we are against GMCs atrocities,” Association General Secretary Maqbul Ahmed said.
GMC looking for other options
While talks and negotiations seem to find no conclusion, GMC has decided to put an end to all trouble once for all, sources said.
“The GMC has decided to set up their own stalls to sell hygienic meat directly from the slaughter house. Besides outlets, mobile vans and door-to-door options for selling hygienic meat has also been thought upon. A helpline number for consumers is also in the pipeline,” officials said.