Buoyed by the steps taken against illegal slaughterhouses in several other BJP-ruled states, members of the Cow Development cell of BJP are mulling on protesting against the illegal abattoirs in West Bengal.

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“We are in talks with the BJP Bengal leadership. There is a wave across the country and people should be awakened now. This is the right time to hit the roads and start a movement against these illegal activities,” Dr SK Mittal, national co-convenor of the Cow Development Cell told DNA. Mittal said that almost all the abattoirs of Bengal were flouting rules set by the Supreme Court and the National Green Tribunal. “Solid and liquid wastes from these illegal slaughterhouses affect the health of the people living in the vicinity. The state government is to be directly blamed because the monitoring of slaughterhouses is in the hands of the state government and the civic bodies. The local police and administration are to ensure that the unauthorised establishments don’t exist but nothing has been done,” Dr Mittal added.

He said that the movement would be in the interest of common people. “We will want people, especially the non-vegeterians. to participate in the movement because they along with their families are the ones who are now consuming unhealthy meat. There is a rule of checking every animal before it is slaughtered and a post mortem is to be done to ensure that it is free from diseases. Since it is not done, even deadly germs like the HIV virus can get into human bodies,” he said.

Sunil Dwivedi, the state co-convenor of cow convenor cell, told DNA that they would decide the course of action in a meeting on April 15. “It has been informally decided that we will put up a human chain and a symbolic hunger strike programme, demanding closure of illegal abattoirs in the state. If the state government doesn’t take any step after the three-day hunger strike, we will meet the governor and submit a deputation to him asking him to prod the state government into action. The place of the protest programmes would either be at College Square or Esplanade. It will be decided at the meeting,” he told DNA. He said that illegal slaughter houses in Bengal had been prevalent for the last 40 years, within which the Congress, Left Front and TMC had been in power.

State BJP leadership too said that a plan was being chalked out. “Besides the pollution caused, these illegal abattoirs use a lot of water, which is already scarce in Bengal. We are also keeping a tab on some NGOs, which are working in protest against these activities and we will support them in their mission,” state BJP president Dilip Ghosh told DNA.