As politics over beef goes to another level with even buffaloes being under scanner, it is the traders of buff meat in Delhi who are bearing the brunt. Grappled with the fear of being raided or beaten up, these traders expressed that transportation of buffaloes is turning out to be the biggest hurdle.
According to meat suppliers, “confusion” between cow and buffalo meat has led to widespread chaos. The result – trade in buffalo meat has witnessed a sharp decline of at least 25 per cent in the Capital in just over a month’s time. “Everyone, from police to the government and even restaurants and hotels are unable to differentiate between the two kinds of meat. The police rough up with our drivers and helpers. They raid our trucks unnecessarily,” said Sirajuddin Qureshi, President, All India Jamiat ul Quresh. Owing to this, a number of restaurants who were serving buffalo meat with “beef” written on their menu cards have now taken to renaming the dishes as “buff”.
Mr Qureshi who also runs a meat business, Hind Agro Industries Limited, added that the real problems are faced in the outskirts of Delhi when the buffaloes are being brought from neighbouring states. “Buffaloes are brought here from Rajasthan, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Punjab. Most troubles faced by our transporters are before they reach Delhi as it is not just the police but several other right-wing groups. They would come on bikes and conduct random checks with no authority,” he said. For the farmers buffaloes are profitable assets with each being sold to suppliers at Rs 25,000 – 30,000 according to its health. “The revolting groups must realise that the farmers who sell buffaloes have the most assured returns. For all other crops like sugarcane, wheat, cereals and others, the government has a price cap. But there is no cap on price for buffaloes,” Mr Qureshi added.
However, Delhi’s lone buffalo slaughter house in Ghazipur Mandi maintains that supplies have not been affected at all. Officials of the East Delhi Municipal Corporation under which the state-of-the-art facility falls blamed it on middlemen.
