UP crackdown hikes meat prices in Delhi
SUPPLY TROUBLE Navratras may cushion impact for now
Meat traders’ strike in neighbouring Uttar Pradesh has halved Delhi’s supply and sent the prices soaring, with mutton selling for ~500 a kilo in some areas on Monday.
Traders at Ghazipur, Delhi’s only slaughter house and biggest wholesale meat market, said they were not getting cattle from Uttar Pradesh, the biggest supplier of animals, which had led to buffalo and goat meat costing at least 25% more.
“Around 6,000 goats and 900 buffaloes were sold every day but in the last three days, not more than 2,500 goats and 400 buffaloes have been sold,” a trader said at Ghazipur, which borders Uttar Pradesh. He didn’t wish to be named, fearing a backlash from vigilante groups.
Delhi doesn’t have livestock farms and relies on neighbouring Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. The bulk of buffalo supply to Ghazipur is from UP, which is the country’s biggest meat producer.
Traders in UP started an indefinite strike on Monday to protest against the closure of illegal butcher shops and slaughterhouses. The crackdown was one of the first decisions taken by Yogi Adityanath, a Hindu hard- liner who took over as the UP chief minister on March 19 after the BJP swept the state election.
Though cow slaughter is banned in UP, like most Indian states, there is no such restriction on buffaloes.
Cow protection and closure of illegal and mechanised abattoirs were some of the poll promises of the BJP.
“The supply has decreased by 50% and has certainly led to rise in prices of beef and mutton,” said Sirajuddin Qureshi, who is the president of All India Jamiatul Quresh, a meat traders’ body.
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