Kolkata: Centre’s move to ban sale of cattle from marketplaces across India for the purpose of culling has left hundreds of beef traders worried in West Bengal.
In 2015, as per National Sample Survey Office (NSSO), more than 80 million people eat beef/buff in India. West Bengal, where selling of beef, ox, and buffalo meat is legal, accounted for 18.66 % of the total. In 2016-17, this went up to nearly 21%.
Mohammed Ali, president, Calcutta Beef Dealers' Association (CBDA) said, “The ban will leave lakhs of workers unemployed. We will approach Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on this.”
“There is a huge scarcity of beef/buff meat in Bengal. Our business has been badly affected because some states, including Uttar Pradesh, stopped supplying cattle. There are possibilities that from tomorrow (during Ramzan) prices of beef and Ox will shoot up,” he said, adding that the government, along with the ban, should also come with a solution to the problems faced by lakhs of people.
“We are really worried with the Centre’s notification and state government has to intervene to save us from this crisis. The loaders and transporters are not willing to procure cattle from UP, Jaipur and other north Indian states due to gau rakshaks. One cannot impose such law all of a sudden. The after effects of such a law have to be dealt with smoothly too,” he added.
Sources also told News18 that the CBDA members were planning to meet Kolkata civic body regarding the ban.
While Banerjee was in Delhi to meet PM Narendra Modi, Trinamool Congress secretary Partha Chatterjee said, “We are aware of the notification and we have to go through it carefully before coming to any conclusion. Soon, a party level discussion will be held on this issue.”
In a surprise gazette notification, the environment ministry has banned cattle slaughter and introduced restrictions on the sale of cattle to prevent their killing. A gazette notification, titled Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Regulation of Livestock Markets) Rules, 2017 by the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change states that no one can bring cattle to an animal market unless he or she has furnished a written declaration that the cattle will not be sold for the purpose of slaughter. Further, upon sale of cattle, the animal market committee will take an “undertaking” that the animals are for agricultural purposes and not for slaughter.
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