Nearly 700 mutton merchants will go on strike from Sunday in protest against the closure of the slaughterhouse at Hanumanthavaka.
The slaughter house that had been closed for three months should be opened as going to the abattoir at Marikavalasa had become unviable and causing them loss, Mutton Merchants’ Welfare Association president K. Venkata Appa Rao and secretary B. Appalaraju said here on Thursday.
In the 1500 square yards of site at Hanumanthavaka, facilities should be created for parking, selling mutton and stocking should be created by GVMC, they demanded at a press conference here.
Bringing sheep and goat from as far as Gajuwaka and Anakapalle to the abattoir was resulting in heavy expenditure, they said. Mr. Appa Rao alleged that sheep and goat were slaughtered along with big animals.
Traders said the animals had to be taken one day in advance and after slaughter they were able to bring them to shops around noon while the buyers come only in the morning. The loss was borne by traders and not by GVMC or the customers, they said. Ignoring the problems faced by them, GVMC officials were levying hefty fine if animals were slaughtered elsewhere, they alleged. They demanded zone-wise facilities for carrying out the trade.
Advocate I.M. Ahmed said the high court issued a stay against the closure of the Hanumanthavaka slaughter house. He said statutory notices to file a case against GVMC were sent to the Municipal Commissioner and the MLAs concerned.
The government promoting Visakhapatnam as a tourism destination should make mutton available, he said. The decision of GVMC to close down the Hanumanthavaka slaughter house not only affected traders and workers but thousands of sheep and goat-rearers, he said. AITUC leader Rahaman said the bandh would continue till the hardships of mutton traders were addressed.
