Yogi Adityanath has done well to order ban illegal slaughterhouses.  Amid a controversy over crackdown on slaughter houses, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath today said that slaughterhouses operating legally will not be touched but action will be taken against the illegal ones. Illegal meat shops on the roadside were also banned.

He is absolutely right in establishing the rule of law in banning the illegal slaughterhouses. So far, no chief minister had the guts to do so as it entailed going against certain lobby even though there has been a law to this effect. Think about it that there are almost 186 slaughterhouses in Uttar Pradesh of which only 40 have approvals from National Green Tribunal

National Green Tribunal (NGT) had in the past couple of years insisted on their closure. It is common knowledge that parts of western UP like Meerut, Sambhal, Aligarh, Agra and Bulandshahr are major centres for meat production and export and therefore, home of illegal slaughterhouses.

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Most of these places have had illegal slaughter houses running where environmental norms are flouted with impunity. Most of them donot have effleunt treatment plants and most of them on the roadside.

They are a health hazard for their surroundings as well as the ones who consume the meat.  There are also badly run with little regard to health all over.

Definitely, in a country where almost about a crore animals are reportedly butchered legally, UP has been contributing almost 19 per cent , so the legal slaughter houses cannot fulfill the requirement and they sub-contract to the illegal ones that have little regard for the health of the animals. Those ones slaughter the animals in closed rooms flouting the Uttar Pradesh Nagar Nigam Act 1955 which makes it mandatory for all animals being slaughtered to undergo health check-ups.

So it is in the interest of animals, consumers and surroundings to close down the illegal slaughterhouses.

And the message from the chief minister is loud and clear: either meet the legal and environmental requirements and get approval of NGT or shut down.