Even as it looks unlikely that beef traders in Maharashtra will get any relief soon after a new law banned the sale and purchase of bull meat in the State, they have gone on an indefinite strike and boycotted the slaughter of buffaloes, which is permitted under law.
As a result of their strike, activities at the slaughterhouses across Maharashtra including the Deonar Abattoir — the largest slaughterhouse in Asia located in Chembur, a Mumbai suburb — have been severely hit.
Right after President Pranab Mukherjee gave his assent to the Maharashtra State Animal Preservation (Amendment) Bill (1995) which came into existence during the previous Sena-BJP government, the State cracked down on beef trade causing heartburn to thousands of people engaged in the industry.
As an act of solidarity towards their associates who who sell bull meat — now banned and punishable by five years imprisonment — traders selling buffalo meat, which is permissible under law, have boycotted activities.
“Around 900 shops in Mumbai — an overwhelming majority of them are bull meat dealers — and all the associations have decided to stop functioning till the government gives us an alternate means of livelihood,” said Mohammed Qureshi, president of the Mumbai Suburban Beef Dealers’ Association.
The ban on bull slaughter and the dealers' boycott of buffalo slaughter has impacted activities and livelihood at the Deonar Abattoir, which is running a loss of Rs. 80,000 to Rs 1 lakh per day, said K.A Pathan, deputy general manager of the slaughterhouse.
"Only goats and sheep are being slaughtered. Buffalo slaughter has also stopped. It has affected the lives of the assistants, workers and officials who work here,” Dr. Pathan said.
Earlier this week, hundreds of butchers, beef traders, workers at slaughterhouses and employees in the leather and chemical industry, which are closely linked to the supply of cattle, staged a massive dharna at Mumbai’s Azad Maidan. They are now mulling a larger agitation even as they are fighting their cause legally.
According to the traders, bull meat is preferred to buffalo meat and it is pointless to allow the slaughter of buffaloes. “Around 450-500 bulls would be slaughtered at Deonar daily. In comparison, only 10-15 per cent of that figure is buffaloes. So our brothers who sell buffalo meat have lent support to the others and joined the agitation as a sign of unity,” Mr. Qureshi said.
While members of the Qureshi community, traditional butchers, have been severely hit by the ban, the worse affected in the short-run are the workers engaged with the beef business. These workers, labourers and assistants who work on a hand-to-mouth basis earning wages of Rs 350-400 daily find themselves against the wall.
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