Journey through hell
Every day, around 30 trucks crammed with cattle cross the border into the city and find their way to the Deonar slaughterhouse. The animals starving, terrified and often mutilatedhave stood in their blood, urine and dung for 36 hours or more. Their tails are sometimes cut off to make space in the truck and their eyes often sewn up. At the slaughterhouse, death can come as a release. This is the meat that ends up on your plate.
Rachel Lopez
T HE MID-DAY heat is dry and dusty. Weve been waiting for over an hour now, trying to make ourselves inconspicuous. Our vehicles have been hidden the enemy knows our cars and licence plates and one of us is even in semi-disguise, sporting a kurta to pass off as a Muslim slaughterhouse worker. There are five of ustwo members of the animal welfare NGO Karuna Parivaar are positioned at Sanpada, two at the Vashi toll naka further south. They are old hands at this game. For me, a journalist on her first animal raid, its a revelation.
This is no time for talk; all our attention is focused on the heavy vehicles speeding towards Mumbai. At Sanpada, Bhavin Gathani of Karuna Parivaar uses the main signal as a vantage point to spot the vehicles approaching Vashi. He stands on the footpath, like any other commuter waiting for a bus, surreptitiously checking every licence plate to see which match the list in his hands. Those that do will be carrying live cargo: animals inhumanely packed into cramped filthy spaces, on their way to the slaughterhouse at Deonar.
You can identify some trucks by just looking at them, explains Gathani, who has spent the last five years organising raids like this. They will be completely covered, sporting dung stains, and a car ferrying the owners is usually accompanying them. Sometimes the truck has been travelling for so long that you can smell the dung from 20 feet away. And sometimes we
Gathani stops mid-sentence. A truck matching this description has just passed by. The licence plate verified, Gathani alerts his men at Vashi. Its time for action.
At Vashis tollbooth, the last barricade before you enter Mumbai, Gathanis aides Deepak Chawda and Chaggan Mangelalji feign nonchalance as they wait. If anyone asks, we pretend we have a tobacco shipment coming in, says Chawda; revealing the truth would mean risking an attack. As the identified truck wheels into Vashi naka, Chawda and Mangelalji move into gear. They flag the truck down and demand that the naka officers check its contents.
Apna maal hai, jaane do (Theyre my goods, let the truck pass), orders Aftar Qureshi, the man in the accompanying car, but he is forced to halt. An inspection reveals that eight adult buffaloes have been jammed into a space meant to house three calves and three adults. The animals have come from Mahad, eight hours away, and have been standing in their own dung and urine for the entire journey. Some of them have ropes through their noses, which are fastened to the sides of the truck to inhibit movement. One buffalo makes eye contact, and I can see the fear in her eyes. She is scared of everythingthe heat, the dung, even my disgust.
The truck is taken to the Trombay Police Station, where animal cruelty complaints sit oddly with stories of domestic violence, stolen cellphones and second wives worrying about their first husbands. Gathani has filed so many complaints here that he addresses the officers with easy familiarity. About 30 trucks like these come in every day. But our informants and manpower allow for just six raids a month, he explains, showing me a six-inchthick file where he has kept a copy of every complaint made. We have arrested each person from this file, Inspector Vinandeo Bhal Singh assures me, but neglects to mention that each of the offenders have been let off on a bail of around Rs 5,000. Right now, hes more interested in figuring out how Animal welfare officer translates in Marathi. Mhanjé
Pashu
pashu
he stumbles as the afternoon sun beats down on the buffaloes in the truck.
Prani saurakshan adhikari, supplies Gathani.
Seven hours crawl by while the activists wait for a First Information Report (FIR) to be filed. The officers want to inspect the animal transport licences but the owners have none. Maharashtra government mandates allow eight animals per truck but the Central government stipulates six, and officers, blind to the abysmal transportation conditions, keep insisting there has been no violation, so no complaint can be filed. Gathani decides to call Maneka Gandhi in
But their owners arent giving up so easily. Theyre hoping Gathani and his gang will succumb to a bribe just like the officials they deal with between Mahad and Mumbai. Only, its not money they are offering but lives. Yeh apni rozi roti hai (this is our daily bread), they plead. We will hand over five animals to you every month. Just let our trucks go, Qureshi tries to barter. Gathani haggles back in the same vein: Assure me 300 lives every month and well see. There is no solution. Only a stalemate. rachel.lopez@hindustantimes.com CRUELTY COUNT 500million Indias livestock population, the largest in the world, more than half of which constitutes cows, buffaloes and bulls. 8,000 The number of animals slaughtered in the Deonar slaughterhouse every day. 12,000 The number of animals slaughtered during Ramzan and Eid. 60% Mumbais share of
100 Rs The maximum fine stipulated in the Prevention of Cruelty of Animals Act, 1960
HOW PROVISIONS IN THE ANIMAL TRANSPORTATION ACT ARE VIOLATED 1 Not more than six animals may be transported in a truck at a time. Males and females cannot be transported together. Trucks have been caught with as many as 23 animals cramped inside. Males, females and calves are almost never segregated. Calves are usually jammed in the space under larger cattle or transported on the roof of the drivers cabin. The hooves are often tied up to restrict movement and make more room for more. Conditions are sometimes so cramped that any head movement from one animal could gouge out the eye of the one next to it.
2 Each vehicle must carry enough food and water to last the journey. Animals often remain hungry from the time they are loaded to the time they are slaughtered, which is typically 36 to 48 hours.
3 Each animal must carry a surgeons certificate indicat ing it is free from disease. The vehicle must carry a label bearing the name of the owner, the transporters, the destination and the recipient of the shipment. It must also carry a clear warning that says live animals are being transported (like the Flammable and Danger signs that fuel tankers carry) Transporters often dont carry even the permits required to enter the city.
4 The truck has to be open so the animals do not suffo cate during the journey. The trucks are covered with plastic and secured with rope, suffocating some animals to death.
5 The truck has to carry a first-aid kit. The sides of the truck have to be padded so that animals do not injure themselves en route. Anti-skid flooring and suitable ramps for the animals have to be installed. Injuries start at loading and continue through the journey. The animals are kicked, beaten and dragged into and out of the trucks. Their eyes are sometimes sewn up, their tails broken so they dont move and chilli powder is often rubbed into their eyes to scare them into cooperation. The animals, bound in one position for so many hours, often slip in their own blood, urine and dung and lie there for the rest of the journey. Wounds are left untreated and often fester, breeding disease.
Making a killing Why slaughtering in Mumbai spells profits for cattle owners and transporters 6,000 Meat Rs (at Rs 35 per kg) 2,500 Rs 12,100 RS The price the same animal will fetch at Deonar. A profit of more than 300%.
THE BREAKDOWN 3,000 RS Buying price for a healthy adult buffalo at a cattle fair in Maharastra and hooves 1,100 Rs 2,500 Rs
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