Though there is nationwide outcry against the Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath over the crackdown against the illegal slaughterhouses that it is aimed at targeting the minority community, the real culprit is the previous Akhilesh Yadav which ignored repeated orders of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) in 2015, 2016 to close down the illegal abattoirs and enforce the environmental norms for the sake of public health, hygiene and protecting the groundwater and surface water from pollution. UP has over 1,000 illegal slaughter houses.
The misplaced over zeal of the previous Samajwadi Party Government to protect its minority vote bank by not complying with the NGT directives has not only threatened the livelihood of those engaged in meat business and non vegetarian food eateries but also the leather industry in the State.
The size of the leather industry in UP is Rs 20,000 crore of which Rs 10,000 is exported. The leather industry employs over 5 lakh people and the share of UP in India’s leather trade is close to 35 per cent. The NGT, on Wednesday March 22, issued notices to Aligarh District Magistrate and UP Pollution control board and five other agencies for turning a blind eye to a slaughterhouse discharging filth in a drain situated beside a Government school in Aligarh.
A Delhi based environment activist had filed a complaint before the NGT in October last year that that a slaughterhouse has been running next to a Government school in Udala-IIyaspur in Aligarh. It was brought to the NGTs notice that entire area surrounding the slaughterhouse is in very bad shape.
Most students who study in the nearby school are below the age of 10 and are forced to drink from a hand pump installed inside the campus. The drain is filthy due to discharge of blood and animal waste and a foul smell emanates from the factory and the slaughterhouse produces around 170 metric tonne meat per day. The tribunal has fixed April 20 as the next date of hearing.
In it’s UP election manifesto Rs Sankalp Patr’ the BJP had promised it would shut down illegal and mechanised abattoirs in the State if it came to power. With Yogi Adityanath as the Chief Minister with the support of a three-fourths majority in the Assembly, things are likely to get tough for meat industry as the new CM means business. Yogi Adityanath categorically stated in Gorakhpur that the licence mechanised slaughter houses have nothing to worry and the drive against the illegal slaughter houses and unlicensed meat shops will continue.
There are about 45 licensed, mechanised slaughter houses in UP operating in the private sector, with most units having the beef export licence. The UP Pollution Control Board has started drawing up a list of abattoirs that are flouting the norms or operating without the licence.
The illegal abattoirs have been closed down in Allahabad, Varanasi, Saharanpur, Amroha, and Moradabad and in east UP districts. But this has fuelled anxiety in the leather industry.
There are a large number of illegal slaughter houses and those operated manually in the state, especially in the western UP districts. Although there are no comprehensive figures on this, they provide employment to almost 50,000 people. During the last 14 years of uninterrupted rule of the SP and BSP, cattle and meat mafia flourished in the State as both the political parties were involved in a no holds barred competition for the enblock support of the Muslim community.
The Governments headed by both the parties not only ignored the illegal trade they infect aided and abetted it as the illegal slaughter houses as provided huge financial support to both the political parties.
During the SP regime dozens of incidents occurred across the State where the cattle mafia involved in illegal transport of cattle’s crushed the policemen under the wheels of the truck and several constables and a sub-inspector was also crushed to death by truck on Bareilly-Badaun road in 2015.