The Ranchi Municipal Corporation’s (RMC) new by-laws for the sale of meat and poultry products within municipal area is posing a major blockade for quite a number of meat and chicken sellers, who are reluctant to keep their shops closed after the implementation of the Municipal licence (For sale of flesh, fish or poultry) Regulation, 2017.
Though the process of issuing provisional licenses to the shop owners under the new guidelines has been initiated, several meat and chicken shop owners are of the opinion that the new by-laws drafted by the civic body must be simplified. Some of them even opined that the provision of keeping deep-freezers, establishment of permanent setups for running a shop, marking of the slaughtered animals with a proper health mark cannot be followed consistently.
“It is not possible to follow some of the clauses mentioned in the by-laws. I am running my chicken shop in Harmu since 2011 and I make sure that after segregating the waste materials, dumping is done at a proper place besides cleanliness clause nothing can be followed. We do not run a business that gives us hefty profit,” a chicken shop owner said.
Similarly, the president of Meat Seller Association, Md Nayeem Alam, said, “Problems like marking of the animals, consulting veterinary doctors before slaughtering animals is not possible every day. Distance is another barrier for all those who reside in suburbs. Our demand to construct mini slaughter houses is pending with RMC. Since March 25, our shops have been closed and we do not have any idea that when exactly, the abattoir at Kanke will be made functional.”
However, RMC Officer (Health) has clarified that no amendment can be done in the new by-laws. “After studying the feasibility, we have drafted the clauses. Making some minor changes like keeping electricity bill has been already removed from the by-laws and no more changes further will be made. For getting licences, it is mandatory to fulfill all the rules as per the Municipal licence (For sale of flesh, fish or poultry) Regulation, 2017.”
So far, RMC has given provisional licence to only two chicken shop owners in State Capital. “In one month, we have received 55 applications from chicken shop owners. Survey work of 22 chicken shops has been complete. However, during the survey, it was found that only few chicken shops have fulfilled some major clauses,” said, RMC Health Officer.