An innocuous question — “where can I buy meat from?” — is met with curious glances and varied responses in Uttar Pradesh. Some will ask you to hush up, others will ignore your query and a few may lend a helping hand by pointing towards shops and offering tips on how to buy meat.
The Hindu drove across Sahibabad, Modinagar, Muradnagar and Meerut on Wednesday, days after the new government’s crackdown on illegal slaughter houses and retail shops selling goat, buffalo and cow meat.
Tension in the air
The tension in the air might have led to closure of shops and slaughter houses, but buying meat is still possible with a lot of perseverance and use of the right phrases. The entire process is nothing short of sealing a drug deal.
Mohammad Sheikh, a roadside barber at Sahibabad in Ghaziabad, secretly directed us to a meat shop in the Preet Nagar market. “I will take you to the owner and you can tell him how much meat you want,” he promised.
Shut: According to locals, over 25 slaughter houses and illegal factories have been sealed in the past week near Alipur.
At the shop, we were greeted by closed shutters and some chicken coops kept outside. A minute later, a man in a stained brown baniyan and a checked lungi emerged from the shop. The barber took him aside to explain our requirement and came back with a frown.
He told us that a kilo of lal chhota (goat meat) would cost ₹700 and lal bada (buffalo meat), which is the cheaper variant, would cost between ₹380 and ₹400. Despite no restriction on sale, the price of chicken too has seen a surge from ₹150 per kg to to ₹220.
“We don’t have lal chhota now, but we can deliver it,” said the man, adding, “We have a licence but it’s yet to be renewed. We had applied for renewal almost five months back. Doing business has become difficult now.”
Discreet exchanges
Similar scenes of discreet exchanges were witnessed at Muradnagar’s Qureshi Wali Gali. The entire street is known for its meat and chicken market. On Wednesday, however, all shops were shut and the lane wore a deserted look. The only people walking around were a few shop owners looking for “genuine buyers”.
Amir, a shop owner, remarked that most meat sellers were now butchering and cleaning carcasses in their backyards. The Hindu was unable to verify this claim.
“The butchering and cleaning takes place at night. Three days ago, a neighbour was caught butchering in his yard at night. The police took ₹20,000 and the carcass was buried. This is a new business — mint money and spoil the livelihood of minorities like us,” he said.
He claimed that many shops on the street had proper licences, but the authorities and cow vigilantes have been beating up people and closing shops without proper verification.
“Shops are being burnt without anyone asking for the documents. We should have been given some time to get our documents in place,” said Sameer, the owner of Shan Chicken Shop on Meerut-Hapur Road.
“A few months back when the Akhilesh government was in power, municipal officials had taken rounds of the area and money from those who didn’t have licences to get their documents made. Neither were the documents made, nor was the money refunded.”
Locals said the worst hit were the slaughter house workers. With many slaughter houses and rendering plants shutting down, thousands of workers are jobless. Over 25 slaughter houses and illegal factories have been sealed in the past week near Alipur. However, not everyone is unhappy with government crackdown.
Santosh Kumar, the security head at one of the packaging plants in the area, said a team of at least 50 municipal and police officers conducted surprise raids and sealed factories there. Barring three, all units were shut.
“This entire lane only has slaughter houses and factories doing meat business. I think the drive by the U.P. government is commendable in many ways. Since 1994, I have been working here. I have never seen a State government get its hands into the meat business. It’s brave of them to do it,” he said.
Bare bones: Mehboob, the owner of Abdul Wahab Meat Shop on Meerut-Hapur Road, said prices of chicken have gone up.
Rendering houses
The locals said several complaints had been registered against illegal rendering houses operational in the area. “The entire area smells foul when the plants are operational. No one cares about maintaining hygiene,” said Raghubir Kumar, a local tea vendor.
The All India Meat and Livestock Exporters’ Association have noted that such blanket closures would lead to major loses. The association said U.P. accounts for nearly 50% of India’s total meat exports and that such a decision would affect the livelihood of 25 lakh people directly or indirectly.
