Give us space to slaughter chicken, fish: Gautam Budh Nagar food dept

NOIDA: In a fix over the issue of licenses to chicken and fish shops, Gautam Budh Nagar food safety and drug administration (FSDA) has written to the state government to clarify its stance on the slaughtering of chicken/fish and issuance of license to the sellers.

Ever since the Yogi-Adityanath led government came to power, authorities have become active in closing operation of many road-side vendors or meat, chicken and fish shops which were operating without a license, along with the illegal abattoirs as promised by the BJP in its manifesto.

According to the rules of the Food Safety Act, 2006, slaughtering of animal is not allowed in any meat/chicken/fish shop and can only be done in a slaughter house.

There is only one government-approved slaughterhouse cum meat processing unit Surajpur area of Greater Noida apart from the ones in Dasna in neighbouring Ghaziabad district and the Ghazipur mandi where goats and sheep can be slaughtered.

However, there are practical problems in executing the ban on slaughter of chicken or fish in the shops.

"There is a problem of demand and supply when it comes to chicken or fish. If a person buys 50 kilogrammes of slaughtered chicken from a slaughter house and is only able to sell 40 kilogrammes, what will he do with the rest of the chicken? Secondly, there is no slaughter house for chicken or fish in Gautam Budh Nagardespite being significant demand from the residents. We have asked the government to provide us spots where the chicken or fish can be slaughtered," Mahendra Srivastava, designated officer, FSDA department, Gautam Budh Nagar told TOI.

A letter to this regard was sent to the FSDA headquarters in Lucknow on April 1.

Meat,chicken and fish sellers too rue that while the government suddenly wants them to comply with all the rules, it has to provide space for the same.

"If we cannot slaughter chicken in our shop, we have to be provided with a designated space for the same," said a meat shop owner in Sector 22.

Awaiting instructions, the department has issued licenses only to 26 meat sellers in Sector 62.