Headlines
No more beef in Maharashtra
Mumbai, March 3
Beef, the popular red meat,
was on Tuesday banned in Maharashtra with presidential assent being
accorded to the relevant legislation -- two decades after the assembly
had passed it during the former Shiv Sena-BJP government in the state.
Presidential
assent was accorded to the Maharashtra Animal Prevention (Amendment
Bill), 1995, which bans even the slaughter of bulls and bullocks, but
will allow the slaughter of water buffaloes, considered to yield an
inferior quality of beef.
The state had already banned cow
slaughter under the Maharashtra Animal Prevention Act, 1976, barring
bulls or bullocks, the culling of which was permitted with certain
regulations.
"Thanks a lot Hon President Sir for the assent on
Maharashtra Animal Preservation Bill. Our dream of ban on cow slaughter
becomes a reality now," a pleased Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said
in a tweet.
BJP MP Kirit Somaiya, who had led a delegation to
President Pranab Mukherjee on the issue recently, termed the assent as
"a historic step with cultural as well as economic implications for the
state".
He said the bill passed by the Maharashtra legislature in 1995 was forwarded for the president's assent in 1996.
"Subsequent
governments in the state failed to do the needful and get the Bill
implemented. We had committed to do this in our manifesto and have
fulfilled it," Somaiya said.
Mumbai alone consumes around 90,000
kg beef daily, with around 25 percent accounting for water buffalo meat,
called carabeef, through 900 licensed and hundreds more illegal
outlets.
However, all the culling and processing of around 450
large animals which are slaughtered daily is carried out only at the
Deonar Abattoir, Asia's largest in north-east Mumbai.
Since the
past several weeks, beef traders in a majority of the state's cities and
towns have been on strike protesting against harassment by right-wing
and Hindu groups, who are also demanding closure of Deonar Abattoir.
Beef
traders apprehend that the new development will render several
thousands unemployed and also hike the prices of mutton, chicken, fish
and other meats, both in the retail markets and in restaurants and
hotels.