Meat supply muddle

How can fresh meat be supplied to Guwahati? The municipality authority has a plan, but it looks suspect. The implementation has been so problematic that city meat sellers are now a frustrated lot. They will be downing their shutters on Monday in protest, but this stand-off raises a larger question. Is another syndicate coming up, this time to monopolise the Guwahati meat market and make easy money with the blessings of administration higher-ups? As it happens usually in such cases, it began with an undoubtedly good and indeed overdue action by Guwahati Municipality Corporation (GMC) — to implement the 2014 Supreme Court order that livestock be slaughtered in painless and scientific manner under hygienic conditions. The GMC slaughter-house bye-laws were already in place in 2012, so the apex court directive should have lent ample authority for implementation. But the matter got bogged down with GMC, Assam Livestock and Poultry Corporation (ALPCO) and Greater Guwahati Meat Association failing to see eye to eye despite several rounds of talks. After another meeting in February this year, it was announced that consumers in Guwahati will soon get “fresh meat sourced directly by meat sellers from government slaughter-house” as per Gauhati High Court order. This referred to the state-of-the-art abattoir built at Six Mile near Khanapara in the city, operated by ALPCO and NEC Food Processing Private Ltd. This meat processing plant with mostly imported machinery was said to have the capacity of slaughtering 1,500 goats, 4,500 chickens and 100 pigs per shift. It is a fact though that this plant is presently operating at a fraction of its capacity, and it requires significant increase in manpower. The rate of slaughter would have to be decided by the plant operators with the meat association. There is dual provision for inspecting whether the animal is healthy, and after slaughter, whether its meat is fit for consumption. The then Guwahati mayor further declared that after slaughter of goats for mutton is on in full swing, the GMC in due course will process guidelines for chicken meat and pork as well. But with talks breaking down repeatedly, the mistrust between the stakeholders is such that a meat supply crisis in the city now appears a distinct possibility.

The GMC authority has been warning for some time that meat shops not following slaughterhouse bye-laws and court order will be shut down. The issue has received media coverage, considering the growing public concern over meat of doubtful quality and origin, as well as animals slaughtered cruelly in filthy conditions. After hue and cry by activist and consumer bodies, a number of private slaughter-houses in the city were earlier sealed for causing nuisance and grossly flouting rules. So far so good, but meat sellers too have thereafter raised some legitimate queries — which have primarily to do with whether a monopoly is being set up through government abattoir, along with rules which are plain arbitrary. While accepting the need for hygienic abattoirs and scientific slaughter of livestock, the meat seller association has pointed out that Guwahati needs 6 abattoirs, one each in 6 municipality zones. There is further scope of involving meat sellers in operating such abattoirs under proper supervision. Instead, meat sellers from all parts of the city are being made to go with their goats all the way to Six Mile, which adds to their transportation cost, not to speak about traffic jam woes. A fee of Rs 125 is being charged per goat for slaughter, when abattoirs in metros across the country charge only half or one-third this amount. The rules mandate that meat sellers will leave their goats for observation in the abattoir 12 hours before slaughter. On their part, meat sellers ask why should the goats be slaughtered in their absence — after all, they had selected their goats with due care, and there is no guarantee that the meat they will be handed over belonged to their goats. Besides, they will not receive their meat immediately after slaughter — it has to be kept frozen for 8 hours — which means customers cannot ask for fresh meat. There is the provision that the abattoir operators themselves could procure the goats and make the meat available after slaughter. But this is where the trust deficit between the two sides is causing trouble, with meet sellers alleging that ALPCO and NEC group had earlier procured old and diseased female goats cheaply from Bihar and tried to pass off the meat to them at market rates. So we now have meat sellers suspecting they will be duped by government supported operators, leaving them to face the music from irate customers! This leaves the discerning public with lurking suspicions about who actually gets to benefit from this confrontation. The unregulated meat market in Guwahati, as elsewhere across the State, must function under proper guidelines. But there should be no scope for corrupt officials to extort money while certifying meat as hygienic. In the name of checking unscrupulous sellers so as to benefit consumers, there should not be government monopolies which syndicates can hijack through the backdoor. People here are getting to see this far too often. This State needs transparent markets good for buyers and sellers, not shady third parties giving raw deals to both.