Use good offices to stop Karnataka's anti-cattle slaughter law: Beef traders to Goa CM

Notification of Karnataka's 'Prevention of Slaughter and Preservation of Cattle Bill, 2020' will severely impact beef trade and food consumption patterns in Goa, the state's beef traders have written to Chief Minister Pramod Sawant.

In the communication to Sawant, the Quraishi Meat Traders Association of Goa has also urged the Chief Minister to intervene and urge the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party leadership in Karnataka as well as at the Centre to stop the controversial law from being notified.

Read: Karnataka's new anti-cattle slaughter law will impact beef sale in Goa: Traders

"In the circumstances we turn to your good offices to intercede for the state of Goa so that the said act is not notified, in as much as the state of Karnataka is ruled by a BJP-led coalition government, in the state of Goa as well as in the Centre and we earnestly believe that in this time of crisis, it is only your good offices that can prevent the said act from being notified," the Association has pleaded in a letter to Sawant.

"The state of Goa is one of the highest beef consuming states in the whole of India in as much as in addition to having a population of mixed cultures, many of which treat beef as an integral part of their staple diet, it is also a renowned tourist destination which invites tourists from various parts of the globe who find Goa because of its Indo-Portuguese, western and Indian nuanced culinary skills which highlights a menu interalia based on beef," the letter also said.

Beef is a routinely consumed commodity in Goa and is served in restaurants in the coastal fringes of the state, which are frequented by nearly eight million tourists every year.
More than 25 tons of beef is consumed in Goa every day, most of which has been imported from Karnataka's Belgavi district.

The Opposition in Goa has already slammed the BJP-led coalition government in Goa for not taking enough measures to ensure a smooth supply of beef to the state, where more than 30 per cent of the population consumes beef as part of a staple diet.

"It is respectfully stated that if the said act is notified and becomes a law, it will be a major setback to members of the undersigned association in as much as the undersigned association will be deprived of carrying on with their sole occupation viz. meat trading and trades ancillary thereto," the Association has also said in its letter.