Sale of unhygienic, unstamped meat goes unchecked in Lalru

Satinder Pal Singh

Lalru, May 21

Next time you take that walk down to your local butchers, spare a thought for what you will be buying and consuming.

The butchers are playing havoc with the people’s health here at Lalru by selling unhygienic and unstamped meat and the practice goes on unabated as the civic officials are reluctant to take any action against them.

A number of outlets are selling chicken and other kinds of meat in the city illegally. None of the meat shop owners have a licence to run these outlets in the town.

Meat and chicken vendors at Lalru are not adhering to the directions issued by the local administration and the authorities from time to time.

Threat of infection and an epidemic-like situation looms large here on account of unhygienic conditions prevailing in these shops. There have been several instances of lapses in examining the meat and chicken stock being sold here, putting the health of consumers to risk.

A visit by this correspondent reveals that animals are slaughtered in unhygienic conditions without physical check up and sold directly to the human beings for consumption.

Butchers hardly bother about the medical examination of animals to be butchered or adopt the set guidelines issued in this regard.

These shops are running without licence which means that the products they are selling have no quality control, no vets are engaged to check the health of the chicken before they are killed and there is no check on handling of products, posing a health hazard to thousands of people in the city.

As per norms, clearance of meat for sale was required from the Veterinary Department, which puts its stamp after finding it fit. No medical check up was being done before the sale of meat.

Sources say in the past few years, all that has taken place in the name of inspections is cursory visits to butcheries. Offenders, if found, are conveniently let off the hook after a call from the higher-ups or a threat from the offenders. Lack of hygiene is only the smallest charge against these establishments.

All sorts of sanitation, hygiene and animal laws are being violated at the meat kiosk, which are situated near the highway in the city. Blood disposed of is also done irresponsibly causing gross violation of health and hygiene in the surrounding areas.

Veterinary Officer Bimal Sharma said since none of the meat shops had bothered to get licences from the authorities, all meat shops running in the city were illegal. He said if animals or chickens were not tested before slaughtering, these could lead to an outbreak of diseases.

Ashok Pathria, Executive Officer, Lalru, said: “We have designated a place for meat shops and soon these would be shifted out. On asking about illegally meat kiosks running here, he said action would be taken against them as per law”. 

Threat of infection looms large

Threat of infection and an epidemic-like situation looms large here on account of unhygienic conditions prevailing in these shops. There have been several instances of lapses in examining the meat and chicken stock being sold here, putting the health of consumers to risk.