WEDNESDAY, MAY 08, 2024
VIKANT SAHAY
PANJIM: On Wednesday, Karnataka’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government passed a Bill in the State Assembly, banning cow slaughter.
The Karnataka Prevention of Slaughter and Preservation of Cattle Bill, 2020, which envisages a ban on all forms of cattle slaughter and stringent punishment for offenders, is an edited version of a Bill that was passed in 2010, again when the BJP was in power.
The new Bill also prescribes new punishments for transport of cattle, sale of meat and purchase or disposal of cattle for slaughter, a prison term of three to five years and a fine ranging from Rs 50,000 to Rs 5 lakh.
Goa will have a direct impact due to this step taken by neighbouring Karnataka. “Goa imports 90 per cent of meat products, including beef from Karnataka and 40 per cent of Goans are beef eaters which amounts to 15-20 tonnes of beef per day. It also includes the sale of beef in shops, restaurants and hotels across Goa,” Manna Bepari, President of Quraishi’s Meat Traders’ Association of Goa (QMTA) which has 70 members said.
He added, “However, the demand as of now is around 10 to 12 tonnes per days as many restaurants and hotels are closed due to the COVID situation.”
Bepari further said that on Monday, the Association meet and passed a resolution to submit before the government. “We will try to meet various MLAs and also the Chief Minister, as he is also the Animal Husbandry Minister, to request them to speak to Karnataka government and request them to not to implement this new law.”
The first person to export meat from Goa in the late 1970s, Raj Maganlal, Director of Magsons Delicatessen, while speaking to Herald said, “Now we import it from Karnataka as we get it fresh and hygienic. However, meat consumption is going down in Goa gradually. Earlier, the beef we used to sell was 400-500 kilogrammes per day and the same amount is now not consumed in a week. People are getting more health conscious and the demand for red meat is going down.”
Bepari is clear that the Bill if implemented will have severe economic repercussions in Goa. “This will clearly kill our industry and over 2000 people who are in this trade will be badly affected. We do not slaughter cows, we get bovines which are not in use and we are following all directions from the Court or government,” Bepari said.
Maganlal agreed and said, “If the law is made in Karnataka then it will also kill the meat industry in Goa. The staple food of many Goans is beef and Margao is the biggest consumer of beef, but the demand is going down now.
However, on the contrary, Anil Pereira director in Delfinos believes that banning cow slaughter will not affect the Goa market. “I do not know the intricacies but cow slaughter and bovine slaughter is not the same thing. The beef we get is bovine and not cow. Cow slaughter was not done anyways, except from some exports. We sell bovine meat and not cow meat. I do not think it will impact Goa unless they put a ban on bovine meat also. Goa is a sizeable beef market but the impact will be more on restaurants and hotels. We in retail will be able to sustain.”
Another issue Bepari raised was why Goa Meat Complex at Usgao has not been operating for years. “The BJP government wants us not to consume beef and that is why they are bringing such laws. It is a direct attack on us and they are targeting our business. In case this bill becomes law, the rate of mutton and chicken will shoot up. This will be disastrous for the future,” Bepari warned.
