Forget about concrete structures, deployment of veterinary doctors or installation of deep freezers, a number of meat shops operating in the city even lack tinted glasses, dustbins for collecting segregated waste products and other basic prerequisites for running a meat shop in the State.
From Bahu Bazaar to Harmu Road, despite the authorities claim to curb illegal sale of meat, chicken shops along roadsides and running at temporary setups infringing the rules is a common scenario in Ranchi. Quite a number of shops operating within the municipal periphery are violating the Municipal licence (for sale of flesh, fish or poultry) regulation, 2017 drafted out recently.
According to the RMC officials, due to lack of vehicles, staffs crunch, the Municipal Corporation has failed miserably to crackdown illicit meat shops that have botched to maintain hygiene as per the set norms at their shops.
Additional Municipal Commissioner (AMC), Divyanshu Jha said that due to lack of encroachment removing heavy vehicles at RMC, it is difficult to cover all 55 wards divided in four zones at one fell swoop.
“The Municipal Corporation had floated tenders twice but none of the bidders have yet turned up for some or the other reasons. If in case, we do not get any bidder, we have decided that soon four Boleros or other SUVs will be hired by the civic body to remove encroachment along the roadsides especially those shops situated at the interior locations,” said the ACM.
Notably, till date, even after four months of the order passed for closure of all illicit meat shops, no significant step has been taken to ensure this. Also, the officials of RMC have kept no record of the total number of illegal seized shops shut down by the enforcement team recently considering the newly formulated laws.
“At present, we have no records of total number of illicit meat shops seized recently but ward supervisors have been told to compile the report of such shops at the earliest. Considering the size of the wards, soon city marshal units will be strengthened. At this time, nine city enforcement teams have been working shift-wise to crackdown all such meat shops,” said Jha.
According to the official record available with RMC, so far, 60 meat shop owners in State Capital have received No Objection Certificate (NOC) for operating their shops following all the prescribed guidelines.