Now, all the meat shop owners here in Capital city may breathe easy as Ranchi Municipal Corporation (RMC) will table the final draft before the board for running a meat shop within municipal periphery on April 19.
Approximately, 300 meat shops are located within the urban vicinity. Notably, quite a number of meat sellers were waiting for the new guidelines for a long period of time.
“The proposal is ready and will be tabled on April 19 for the approval from the board members. Keeping major clauses like hygiene, proper setups, veterinary doctor verification before slaughtering any animal are few major points added in the draft and makes obligatory for every licence holder to follow this,” said Additional Municipal Commissioner, Bidyanand Sharma Pankaj.
A person seeking licence must have their own land. Shop owners having their shops on rent must have a proper lease or rent agreement along with a holding number for availing licence. Besides ensuring hygiene in meat shops, proper light and aeration, according to the new norms, a shop owner must also have deep freezer at their shop.
Disposal of waste and other segregated stuffs must be discarded within 24 hours and is on top priority in the new proposal. Before issuing a licence, RMC team will inspect the proposed shop, checking that all the amenities as per the clause are available at the specific shop or not. A doctor will be deputed by the civic body at slaughter house, Kanke who will certify whether the animal is fit for being slaughtered or not.
“An affidavit depicting from where the meat shop owners will get the supply of meat has been made mandatory. A penalty of Rs. 2000 or more will be imposed on a meat shop owner under Jharkhand Municipal Act 2011(Section 459) if they fail to follow the guidelines issued by the Municipal Corporation,” said RMC Health Officer, Dr. Kiran Kumari.
However, president of Jharkhand Meat Owners Association, Firoz Ali has said that though the draft is ready and is likely to be tabled on April 19, it may be further extended to April 24 also. Ali has further stated that even after knocking the door of Municipal Commissioner, Prashant Kumar several times none of the meat seller had received any satisfactory response so far or have been given final dates, when exactly the guidelines will be divulged.
“Even after the approving the meat shop guidelines, at least two months’ time more is required for clearing all proceedings. Even for getting provisional licence, the Mayor needs to conduct immediate meeting with the officials as the Municipal Commissioner has claimed that dates of presenting the new guidelines may extend beyond April 19 but he will try to clear the issue at the earliest,” said Ali after meeting the Town Commissioner on Wednesday.