Oct 29, 2006: HT, Mumbai : Bribes and a blind eye dot every step of the cattle trail

Bribes and a blind eye dot every step of the cattle trail

For a cattle transporter, every bit of utilised space in the truck
translates into a bigger profit

Rachel Lopez

W HETHER YOU buy your beef from the local butcher’s or order it off an
engraved menu in a fancy restaurant, most of Mumbai’s beef comes from the
city’s only legal slaughterhouse at Deonar, run by the Brihanmumbai
Municipal Corporation (BMC).

Mumbai’s demand for beef is high; more than 60 per cent of the 7,67,878
bullocks and buffalos slaughtered in Maharashtra in 2005 were for Mumbai
consumption. To meet this requirement, animals are brought in from Vidharba,
Satara and Malegaon, and sometimes eves as far away as Gujarat and
Rajasthan, where the slaughter of cows, bullocks and buffaloes is banned.
“The meat industry finds it cheaper to transport live animals than to
slaughter them elsewhere and transport the meat to Mumbai, because they will
then have to invest in infrastructure like cold storage,” explains NG
Jayasimha, Campaigns and Legal Affairs coordinator for Peta.

The Central government stipulates that all cattle sold for slaughter must
have a doctor’s certificate stating the animal is unproductive. This means
it is either too old to till fields or past its ability to provide milk. But
at cattle fairs across Maharashtra and neighbouring states, “a bribe of as
little as Rs 100 per animal can ensure that any animal, even a six-monthold
calf, is declared unproductive,” says Bhavin Gathani of the animal welfare
organisation Karuna Parivaar.

Once sold, the animals are loaded into a Mumbai-bound truck. For the
transporter, every bit of utilised space translates into a bigger profit, so
animals are often tied, maimed, blinded, whipped into submission and cramped
into a truck (see box).

On the way to Mumbai are check posts manned by Forest Department officials,
commercial tax officials, sales tax and road transport officials, all of
whom are required to inspect the number of animals being transported, the
necessary health certificates and vehicle suitability. “But for Rs 400,
officers look the other way and attest that your cargo has met
 requirements,” says Gathani.

At Deonar, wholesale buyers selects the animals to be slaughtered and
determine the price. All that remains now is for the BMC-appointed
veterinarian to perform an antemortem and certify that the animal about to
be slaughtered is free from disease.

“The vets at Deonar never even see these animals,” alleges advocate Joshi, a member of the ‘Committee to  monitor Animal Welfare laws in India’. “They take Rs 100 for every animal
you want and sit in their offices all day, stamping away approvals for
slaughter.” At Malad’s Ahimsa hospital, which takes care of animals rescued
en route to the slaughterhouse, Dr Kamlakar Patil lists the diseases that he
has typically seen in rescued animals-maggot-infested wounds foot and mouth
disease, anthrax, and cancer. He adds that the animals suffer such “acute
starvation, dehydration and trauma” during their journey that even after
medical attention, more than 25 per cent of them succumb to their diseases.

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