Panic buying in meat market; leather industry too worried
KANPUR: In the last two days, many unauthorised abattoirs were shut down in Uttar Pradesh making some people wonder if they would be able to eat meat again. And the leather industry too is worried. Kanpur alone has 450 leather tanning units employing about two lakh people directly.
In fact, Kanpur saw people buying more mutton than usual on Tuesday. The butchers said they had a bumper sale but they weren’t happy as they remained worried about their future.
“How can it be happening simultaneously everywhere? It cannot be a coincidence,” asks Taufeeq Ahmed, who sold seven goats as a result of panic buying.
The ban on mechanised slaughterhouses was one of the main points of the BJP manifesto in the assembly elections. The manifesto promised promulgation of an ordinance by midnight on the very day the BJP took over the reins of the state.
Party president Amit Shah raised this issue consistently in his rallies across the state, especially at places where the maximum mechanised slaughterhouses are functional.
Majority of abattoirs supplying meat for domestic consumption now wear a deserted look. Authorities say they are enforcing the ban imposed by the Supreme Court in 2013.
In Kanpur, five slaughterhouses were sealed three years ago. But the butchers continued slaughtering animals.
“We keep raiding the place and challan the people we find inside. It will not end till the proposed mechanised slaughterhouse comes up,” says Dr AK Singh, medical officer, animal husbandry, Kanpur Municipal Corporation.
District magistrate Kaushal Raj Sharma has sought details of all the slaughterhouses in Kanpur region, asking his colleagues to check the status of all illegal abattoirs and shut them down.
This sudden activity on the part of administration has given the meat and leather industry much fret about the future.
Uttar Pradesh has 285 registered slaughterhouses and 130 of them were functional, exporting buffalo meat worth 26,681 crore in 2015-16 alone, according to report of Agriculture and Processed Food Products Development Authority (APFPDA).
The number of unauthorised abattoirs, small and big, was close to 3000 in the state.
The mechanised abattoirs cater to overseas demand for buffalo meat. The unorganised sector consisting of illegal abattoirs and butcher shops, handle the domestic demand for meat.
These unauthorized abattoirs, referred to as ‘kamelas’ in local parlance, have been sealed for violation of norms. The officials say shutting them down is part of an ongoing exercise.
Short on space, the butchers have long been using the ‘kamelas’ to slaughter animals and sell meat at their shops.
Shahanshah Alam, a butcher, fears lakhs of people will be deprived of their livelihood.
“We were using the KMC facility at Bakarmandi since independence. My grandfather, my father, my sons and I all have worked here. Where will we slaughter animals for sale?” he asks. Mohammad Ahmad and Babu Qureishi demand the closure of licensed slaughter houses first.