Illegal meat shops on rise in Dehradun

Around 200 small meat shops are running in the city despite the fact that most of them do not have the mandatory licence. The result is that the stuff being sold from these shops does not get a proper ‘yes’ from the authority concerned. Furthermore, animals are being butchered in the local meat shops, which is also illegal. What is more, the animals as well as the butchers are not checked by the officers concerned, something which creates an issue about the health of the people who buy and consume such meat. 

Sources state that all the mutton shops should have a no-objection certificate (NOC) from the police department, municipal corporation and food and safety department as per the rules revised by Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI).“But a majority of the shops fail to clear even the first step. Being, thus, left with no other option, the shop owners collect a ‘licence’ from the common service centres to run their shops illegally,” said an observer.

However, the common service centre has no right to give such NOCs to any of the shops. “However, they have made a business out of it. They are not just making and supplying NOCs but they also are making those out to open meat shops to shell out extra money which is around Rs 1,000 to Rs 2,000 for making such NOCs,” the observer added. 

Quizzed over the matter which is posing health hazards to the people aside from trashing the rules, the designated officer, Food Safety, GC Kandwal said, “As we are aware of the issue, our inspectors regularly go out on inspection and cancel the invalid NOCs. There are around 10 cases which we have slapped on such meat shop owners in the city. Things are now under process.” 

Speaking of the matter, an officer of the food safety department said that such common service centres are illegally granting NOCs. “Operation of such centres can be stopped as per law,” he said.

Queried, the MCD chief health officer Kailash Joshi said, “The role of MCD is to take action whenever a complaint is filed with us. We check the proper sanitation of the places besides responding to the complaints filed by the people. Our team checks all these things and the shops found on the wrong side of the law are appropriately punished.