TEAM HERALD
teamherald@herald-goa.com
PANJIM: The High Court of Bombay at Goa has granted the custody of 115 bulls at Goa Meat Complex to petitioner Govansh Raksha Abhiyaan (GRA) and directed the Goa government to pay Rs 11,500 per day to the NGO for the maintenance of the cattle.
The officials at the Meat Complex had claimed that around 17 bulls died in last few days due to starvation, as they were not being adequately fed by the GRA, which had promised to take care of the animals when they first filed the petition.
The animal right activists however argued the deaths were due to apathy of the slaughterhouse management, which keeps the bulls in hazardous situation and several have become weak as a result of malnutrition.
While the case was pending, the Court allowed the NGO to feed the cattle and has now, in the order of Thursday gave the NGO custody of the cattle and asked them to transport it to their farm in Valpoi.
The division bench also asked the government to pay Rs 100 per animal per day for their ‘maintenance’.
The slaughtering at Meat Complex stopped since April 22, when animal rights activists under banner of GRA filed petition citing that animals were tortured before being killed and even underage animals were butchered. A total of 132 animals were brought for slaughtering.
Speaking to Herald, Lyndon Monteiro the Managing Director of the GMC said that, ever since the petition was filed they have been following the orders of the court.
“We informed the court that we are a slaughterhouse and not a farm. We cannot take care of the animals. We don’t have caretakers, only butchers. While the animals were in our premises, they were not in our custody. The NGO promised the court that they would take care of the cattle. So the question of us not taking care of the cattle does not arise,” Monteiro said.
The GRA had promised the court that they, out of their love for cows, would take care of the animals. However, despite them feeding the cattle, 17 cattle died of starvation.
The GRA now asked for government money to bail them out and help them maintain the cattle.
