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Meat traders deplore government apathy

By IANS

New Delhi : The Jamiat-ul-Quresh, a representative body of livestock and meat traders, Sunday deplored the apathy of the central and state governments towards the meat industry at a meeting held here.

Almost 10,000 members of the organisation participated in its 75th annual meeting and discussed issues pertaining to their industry.

The president of the Jamiat, Sirajuddin Qureshi, told IANS that the meat industry in India has an annual turnover of Rs.333 billion out of which the exports account for nearly Rs.40 billion.

The Jamiat resented the hurdles creared by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) governments on the national highways in Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat in the transportation of export products.

“The vehicles carrying frozen meat products for export are stopped on one pretext or the other. There are false allegations that the vehicles transport cow meat,” said Qureshi.

“We have taken this matter up with both the state governments and even with the commerce ministry but there has been no satisfactory response from either of them. How can items meant for export be stopped on national highways?”

He claimed that seven meat plants have been shut in Uttar Pradesh because of the same problem. He said that huge economic losses are being borne by the traders on account of failure to honour export commitments. The buffalo meat accounts for nearly 90 percent of the produce.

The participants at the meet also discussed the failure of state and central governments to promote the industry by providing basic infrastructure like modern animal rearing farms and research and development boards.

For example in Delhi, Qureshi said, although the government has decided to set up a new slaughterhouse at Ghazipur, it is not acceptable to anyone because jhatka, halal and buffalo meat will be produced at one place.

“The government had earmarked a sum of Rs.2.25 billion for the plant and on paper Rs.1.5 billion have been spent but the actual amount does not exceed Rs. 350 million,” he claimed.

The meet also discussed the social problems being faced by the Qureshi community, which is involved in a large number in the meat industry.

It called for a solution to the economic problems faced by the community and demanded that the recommendations of the Sachar Commission, which looked into the causes of under development in the Muslim community, be implemented.