NEW DELHI: Amid certain objections raised by primarily buffalo meat exporters against the Centre’s recent order prohibiting sale of cattle for slaughter in animal markets, the Union environment and science minister Harsh Vardhan on Wednesday said his ministry was “critically” examining all the representations and would soon address those concerns by bringing clarity on the issue.”The order has been misunderstood. We will put the positive action in place to address every concern and ensure that not even a single person has heartburn on the issue”, said the minister.
Asked by the TOI whether it would be an amendment to the May 23 notification, Vardhan said, “We need to see whether it would be done through language or substance. We are critically examining all the issues. I think it would be premature to spell it out at this juncture”.
He, however, promised that the ministry would not take much time to do it. “We won’t take months or year to take a decision. We will certainly bring a clarity on the whole issue as early as possible”, said the minister.
Reacting to reports where cattle vigilantes in Rajasthan attacked a truck carrying cows, he said there may be aberrations here and there. “We condemned such incidents. We have asked for action against those people. We cannot justify their action. If one or two persons in a country of 125 crore does something wrong, you cannot blame the whole system or government for it”.
Four persons were injured in Barmer city when a group of cow vigilantes on Sunday attacked officials of the Tamil Nadu animal husbandry department who were transporting cattle from Jaisalmer to Sivaganga in the southern state as part of the government’s breed improvement programme.
Denying reports of disruption in the meat trade, Harsh Vardhan said he did not know how that was possible when there was no implementation of the new rules “as of today”.
The rules, notified by the environment ministry on May 23, will have to be implemented within three months across the country.
The minister also expressed his surprise that no one had put out their objections to the ‘draft’ notification when it was released for stakeholder comment in January. “They were given 30 days to come out with their suggestions and objections. Had the stakeholders reacted then, it would have been clarified much earlier”.
He said we had already clarified that the May 23 notification had nothing to do with interfering with food choice of people nor it was meant to harm meat exporters.
“It was meant to protect the animals from cruelty and my ministry had put out a detailed note on it”, said the minister, referring to the environment ministry’s statement on May 27 when it stated that the move would remove the scope of “illegal sale and smuggling” of bovine and ensure welfare of the animals in the livestock markets.
“The prime focus of the regulation is to protect the animals from cruelty and not to regulate the existing trade in cattle for slaughter houses”, said the ministry after getting representations from different stakeholders including those who expressed their concerns over its impact on legal animal trade.
Allaying such concerns, the ministry had said, “The specific provisions apply only to animals which are bought and sold in the notified livestock markets and animals that are seized as case properties. These rules do not cover other areas”.
Emphasising that the livestock markets are intended to become hubs for trade for animal for agriculture through this process, it had said the animal for slaughter will have to be bought from the farmers at the farms. “The basic purpose of the Rule is to ensure welfare of the animals in the cattle market and ensure adequate facilities for housing, feeding, feed storage area, water supply, water troughs, ramps, enclosures for sick animals, veterinary care and proper drainage”, said the ministry.
