JOIN USTo counter Karnataka beef ban, Goa to outsource state's only abattoir
To counter the impact of the newly introduced anti-cattle law in Karnataka, the Goa government is scouting for private parties to take over operations of the state's only legal abattoir, in order to ensure facilitate smooth supply of fresh beef to consumers in Goa, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant said on Thursday.
In his reply to a question by Congress MLA Reginaldo Lourenco during the ongoing budget session of the Goa legislative assembly, Sawant also said that currently there was no shortage of beef in the coastal state, where minority communities, Catholics and Muslims, account for more than a third of the population.
"The Government of Goa is studying the possibility of outsourcing the modern abattoir of Goa Meat Complex to private companies for the period of ten years," Chief Minister Pramod Sawant and Animal Husbandry Minister Mauvin Godinho said in a written reply to a question from the Congress MLA.
The passage of the Karnataka Prevention of Slaughter and Preservation of Cattle Bill (2020) by the Karnataka assembly had triggered fears of a beef shortage in Goa. After a similar law was passed in Maharashtra earlier, Karnataka was the sole major supplier of fresh beef and livestock to Goa, which consumes nearly 25 ton of beef every day.
To a question by Lourenco, as to whether the state was experiencing beef shortage, Sawant said: "No shortage of Beef in the State is reported".
The Goa Meat Complex, the state's only legal abattoir, has been non functional due to non availability of livestock for slaughter. Sawant said that due to the ban on slaughter and transport of animals in the "neighbouring states", he could not provide an exact time as to when the abattoir would be operational.
"As there is a ban on slaughter and transport of animals in both the neighbouring states, we are not able to give a definite time frame for the meat complex to become operational," Sawant said.