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MP, Uttarakhand, Rajasthan civic administrations crack down on abattoirs
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Wednesday, 03 May, 2017, 08 : 00 AM [IST]
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Our Bureau, New Delhi and Mumbai
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It’s been over a month since Yogi Adityanath took over as Uttar Pradesh chief minister and initiated a crackdown on illegal slaughterhouses, as directed by the National Green Tribunal (NGT) order. Municipal corporations in neighbouring states like Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Rajasthan have followed suit, and have begun to conduct drives and surveys to check the compliance with food safety standards in local slaughterhouses.
MP Bhopal’s city administration stated that there were over 100 illegal meat sellers in Bhopal, who were found violating the norms laid down.
Uttarakhand Although Dehradun does not have a large number of meat shops, the civic administration did undertake raids on a few premises in the heart of the city and warned the operators that they must comply with the norms. However, it did not plan to launch a drive. Rajasthan A Jaipur Municipal Corporation spokesperson said, “The corporation has been working to ban the illegal meat shops in Jaipur. As soon as we come across a stall on the pavement or a shop conducting its business in the open and in a poor condition, they will be asked to shut shop, and their stall and other materials will be seized. While the renewal of licenses is taking place, the progress is slow, owing to the increase in the renewal fee, which was a mere Rs 10 earlier.”
Meanwhile, the action against the slaughtering of animals has negatively impacted the export business as well. Fauzan Alavi, secretary, All India Meat and Livestock Exporters’ Association (AIMLEA), said, “The mechanised slaughterhouses, which are export-oriented, are running up to 65 per cent of their capacity. This has affected the export as well.” “About seven of the 41 export-oriented abattoirs were closed. But the actual fear is the vigilantism that has been going on since the drive has begun. This has restricted the movement of the animals and affected our business,” he said, suggesting that the government could use their abattoirs for the local supplies.
On the local front, meat sellers want to obtain registration from the food safety department, but require a no-objection certificate (NOC) from the local administration, such as the city or town’s civic body and its police, to run a slaughterhouse, in addition to the registration with the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI).
Ramaraj Maurya, additional commissioner, Uttar Pradesh Food and Drug Administration, said that the state food safety department was working in accordance to the norms laid down, and any violator would be dealt with according to the norms prescribed under the Food Safety and Standards Act.
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