The Goa Meat Complex had given traders and shop owners a four-day deadline to ‘open shops and sell beef’. The deadline ends Wednesday (today).
Speaking to Herald, Lyndon Monteiro, chairman of Goa Meat Complex said vehicles were ready to be deployed to fetch beef from neighbouring States, if shops do not start selling beef. However, he was not specific as to where the beef would be sold.
“We had told beef shop owners and traders to open their shops within four days. Based on this, they should open their shops and start selling beef by Wednesday. If we find that their shops are not open, we will be sending a vehicle from the meat complex to Karnataka and return with animals to be slaughtered at the Goa Meat Complex,” Monteiro said, adding people in Goa would have access to beef on Thursday.
“Since we may have to deploy the vehicle on Wednesday, we may only be able to sell the meat the next day,” he said. Details of where beef would be made would be through advertisements on Thursday.
Meanwhile, the All Goa Quraishi Meat Traders vice president Manna Bepari said in the present condition, beef sellers in Karnataka were skeptical about sending their cattle to Goa because of the losses they’ve incurred.
“With NGOs constantly claiming cattle were unfit to be slaughtered, the traders from Karnataka are not willing to send the animals because they just get returned. How are we expected to bring cattle to slaughter if this is the case?” Bepari asked.
The returning of cattle costs them between Rs 8,000 to Rs 10,000 per trip, and Karnataka traders are not willing to bear this cost.
Since Monday last week, the state has been hit by a shortage of beef owing to the lack of beef coming into the State from across the borders. Traders claim NGOs, who by law have to be present at the time of the slaughter, stop the slaughter on the pretext that the animals do not have the required permissions or are too young to be slaughtered. They also indulge in throwing agents onto the meat at the border.
Following the shortage, several restaurant owners were forced to take beef dishes off their menu.
