NEW DELHI: The veterinary department of Municipal Corporation of Delhi is having a tough time tightening the noose on traders running illegal meat business in the city as it has only 15 inspectors against 38 sanctioned posts.
The official data has revealed that all three MCDs have received a total of 250 complaints regarding illegal meat shops operating in their jurisdiction till April this year.
But the MCDs don’t have work force to keep a tab on such activities. The North MCD has just two inspectors against the 16 sanctioned posts, to keep tab on unauthorised meat sale in 104 wards. Similar is the plight of East MCD that is working with only three inspectors for 64 wards. East MCD has 10 sanctioned posts of inspectors. The situation is relatively better in South MCD, which has 10 inspectors and it needs only two more officers to keeps proper check in 104 wards.
“Our inspectors are under pressure due to lack of staff. With this strength, we can take action only on the complaints we get in our control room. We don’t have enough funds to hire more staff. And as a result, the sealed shops are opening up again,” SC Sharma, Director, Vetinary department, North MCD told The Sunday Standard.
The veterinary department has licenced only 3,000 meat shops in the MCD area and rest are working without permit. Kasabpura under North and Seelampuri in East Delhi are the areas that have been identified by the corporations as the places where illegal meat business is rampant. As per municipal rules, there is a penalty of `2,000 for illegal sale of buffalo meat, `500 for sheep or goat meat and `750 for selling meat of buffalo calf.
Hari Lal, Director, Veterinary Department, East MCD, said, “We take action against defaulters after getting complaints. But we definitely need more hands to streamline the working. At times, officials end up being surrounded by local goons in densely populated areas.”
Delhi has only one slaughter house in Ghazipur market.