Beef vendors fume over irregular supply of meat
HERALD REPORTER
MARGAO, JAN 24
Traditional beef vendors at the Gandhi market, Margao are up in arms as they have been left high and dry due to irregular supply of meat from the Goa Meat Complex.
Beef is supplied to the dozen meat stalls in the Gandhi market only around noon, leaving the vendors fuming and the consumers disappointed over the irregular supply.
If the vendors are to be believed, they have been facing irregular supply from the Goa Meat Complex since the last two years, adversely affecting their traditional business.
“The meat arrives at the market around noon almost every day. The late arrival keeps away many a beef eater. How are to we to survive in the business with this arrangement”, questions president of Quraishi’s Meat Traders Association of Goa. Anwar I Bepari.
He said the delay is caused in the slaughtering of the animals on one pretext or the other. “One day, they Goa meat complex management would attribute the delay in slaughtering to irregular water supply. On other occasions, they blame the erratic power supply for the situation”, he said, adding “while we want the meat to be delivered at the Gandhi market at around 6-7 am, the consignment reaches the market only around noon almost everyday”.
What has agitated these traditional vendors is the very attitude of the government and the Management of Meat Complex headed by Home Minister Ravi Naik in addressing their genuine problems. “We have been after Ravi Naik and have been seeking appointments with the Chief Minister Digambar Kamat and PWD Minister, Churchill Alemao, but in vain”, he said.
Another traditional vendor Jafferbai Bepari said the Goa Meat Complex had even attributed the delays in slaughtering the animals to the non-functioning of the power transformer. “How are we to survive in our traditional business if the Goa Meat Complex plays truant every time”, he wondered and sought the immediate intervention of the government in solving their long-pending grievances.
He was sore over the fact that the government has no time to hear their grievances, affecting their business in a big way.
