PANAJI
Finally, after nearly a month, the beef supply situation in Goa’s markets started limping back to normalcy, with cattle beginning to arrive for slaughter at the Goa Meat Complex’s abattoir in Usgao from late Saturday evening.
According to one beef supplier who uses the GMC facility at Usgao, all the issues appear to have been resolved, and the supply of cattle for slaughter has resumed from both Karnataka as well as Maharashtra.
The development comes as a major relief to Goans as well as the tourism industry, where hotels and restaurants were struggling to get assured supplies of beef for over a month.
Goa’s traditional tourism season is also expected to kick off in mid-September with the first charters coming in, although officially no dates have been announced, sources said.
Beef supply to Goa had been disrupted since late July when cattle transporters and meat traders in Maharashtra and Karnataka went on strike to protest against harassment and attacks at the hands of right-wing groups during the transportation of cattle.
Goa has a daily demand of around 20 tonnes of beef, but for the last couple of weeks was making do with just about five tonnes coming in from Telangana. The demand rises based on festivities in the State, and restoration of supply has come in the nick of time for the Muslim community, which will be celebrating Eid-e-Milad on September 3-4.
Goa’s meat traders’ collective, Quraishi’s Meat Traders Association of Goa, also said that the normalisation of beef supply in Goa has started.
Cattle transporters and meat traders in both Karnataka and Maharashtra had gone on strike, demanding that only the police along with a veterinary doctor should be permitted to conduct raids and take action against illegalities in cattle transport.
“They have documented and presented evidence to the State governments of several incidents where they were being harassed unnecessarily by NGOs and vigilantes,” Bepari of the Meat Traders Association in Goa said.
Maharashtra and Karnataka cater to most of Goa’s demand for live animals, which are then slaughtered by suppliers and traders at the State-owned facility in Usgao.
Goa does not have a bovine population sufficient to meet this sort of demand and relies wholly on the neighbouring States. Also, the local breeds of bulls and buffaloes are small in stature and unfit for slaughter at the Usgao abattoir, Bepari added.
The beef shortage issue had briefly echoed in the Monsoon session of the Goa Legislative Assembly, where Sawant had assured he would talk to both State governments for an early resolution.
Beef supply partially normalised in Goa after Sawant’s intervention saw supplies coming in from Telangana and the GMC in Usgao releasing some of its export inventory for the local markets.
