by admin | May 25, 2021 | News, Politics
Sadhvi Saraswati and Shantaram Naik
Panaji : If Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar is serious about the sentiments of beef-eaters in Goa, he should get Sadhvi Saraswati arrested for her hate speech against beef consumers, state Congress President Shantaram Naik said on Thursday.
“He should first get issued an arrest warrant against Sadhvi Saraswati, who made a horrible statement in Goa in June last that a person eating beef should be brought to the crossroads and flogged, and his flesh exhibited in public place so that nobody dares to eat beef in Goa,” Naik told reporters here.
The Madhya Pradesh-based Sadhvi had come to Goa to deliver a speech at a Hindu conclave and said that beef-eaters should be hanged in public.
“Despite this statement, Parrikar could not get filed an FIR against her. All talk is useless till he gets issued an arrest warrant against the Sadhvi,” Naik said.
He was reacting to Parrikar’s assurance to Goa’s beef traders, who were on strike for four days to protest harassment by cow vigilantes and police.
On Wednesday, a day after these traders called off the strike, Parrikar said Goa Police will provide protection to consignments of beef coming from other states, provided their documents were in order, and take action against those who impede such transportation.
Goa’s Quraishi Meat Traders Association chief Manna Bepari told IANS on Thursday that beef supply to Goa from Karnataka after the strike ended was beginning to stabilise.
“There has been no untoward incident in the last two days,” Bepari said.
He said meat traders held a meeting with Animal Husbandry Minister Mauvin Godinho, as well as top officials of the Goa Meat Complex, the state’s only legal abattoir, who assured that the facility will be made operational within a week.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | News, Politics
A student wears a T-shirt with a message protesting Maharashtra government’s beef ban order. (HT File photo)
Panaji : Beef traders in Goa on Saturday refused to withdraw their strike and demanded the BJP-led coalition government crack down on vigilante groups who hamper bringing in beef from neighbouring states.
President of the Qureshi Meat Traders Association of Goa, Manna Bepari has said an assurance has been given by the Chief Minister’s Office that the “issue would be resolved within two days”.
“We will not sell beef until the government finds a solution to the problem. We went to meet the Chief Minister but he is not in Goa. His office has assured us that a meeting of all stakeholders will be called within two days and the issue will be resolved,” Bepari told IANS.
“Today, we observed a complete strike and beef will not be sold in Goa until this problem involving vigilante groups and clarity on beef-import modalities are not resolved,” Bepari said.
On Saturday, butcher and meat shops across the state did not sell beef, even as prices of mutton, which is sold at Rs 500 per kg, surged by Rs 30.
Beef is normally consumed in the form of stew, curries, roasts, soups and is an essential protein, and one of the cheapest meats in most Christian and Muslim homes in the state.
Minorities comprise more than 30 per cent of the state’s 1.5 million population.
Cheaper than mutton, beef is also commonly consumed in the tourism-oriented coastal belt, which sees nearly six million tourists, half a million of which are foreigners.
According to official statistics from the Goa Meat Complex, the state’s only abattoir facility allowed to slaughter cattle and buffaloes, the state consumes nearly 30 tonnes of fresh beef every day.
And with the Complex not functioning over the last few months, majority of the beef is brought in from Karnataka by the meat traders in Goa to meet the demand for red meat.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Halal Food, Halal Industries, News, Politics
A student wears a T-shirt with a message protesting Maharashtra government’s beef ban order. (HT File photo)
Panaji : Harassed by vigilante groups, Goa’s only beef traders association on Friday said they will go on an indefinite strike from Saturday, until the government cracks down on vigilante groups who hamper bringing in beef from neighbouring states.
The association said the strike would go on till the government eases procedures to bring beef into the coastal state.
Speaking to IANS, Manna Bepari, President of the Qureshi Meat Traders Association of Goa said no beef would be available for sale in Goa, until the government steps in and resolves the issue.
“We are tired of these raids. They are not allowing our business to function. Every other day these groups target the beef consignments which we order from the open market in Karnataka and government officials also keep harassing us,” Bepari said.
“No beef shop will be open until the government helps us and stops these vigilant groups from taking law in their hands,” Bepari said.
He also said that more than five raids were conducted in the last few weeks, especially during the Christmas and New Year period, when sale of beef is at its peak in Goa.
Beef is normally consumed in the form of stew, curries, roasts, soups and is an essential protein, and one of the cheapest meats in most Christian and Muslim homes in the state.
Minorities comprise more than 30 per cent of the state’s 1.5 million population.
Cheaper than mutton, beef is also commonly consumed in the tourism-oriented coastal belt, which sees nearly six million tourists, half a million of which are foreigners.
According to official statistics from the Goa Meat Complex, the state’s only abattoir facility allowed to slaughter cattle and buffaloes, the state consumes nearly 30 tonnes of fresh beef every day.
And with the Complex not functioning to full capacity over the last few months, a majority of the beef is brought in from Karnataka by the meat traders in Goa.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Corporate, Corporate Governance, Economy, News, Politics
Vijai Sardesai
Panaji : Goa as a tourism destination should become so expensive that low-budget Indian tourists are discouraged from coming to the coastal state, a minister said on Friday.
Town and Country Planning Minister Vijai Sardesai also said Goa should re-orient its tourism to attract high-end tourists and focus on quality tourism rather than a tourism apparatus which focuses merely on footfalls.
He was responding to a question on overcrowding and inflow of tourists on a shoe-string budget to the coastal state during the Christmas-New Year week.
“I (had) said Goa should become so expensive for the tourists that they should say ‘I should not come to Goa. It is not worth going to Goa’. Which tourist — Indian tourist,” Sardesai said.
An opposition legislator in the last legislative assembly, Sardesai heads the regional Goa Forward party, which has three ministers in the 12-member Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar-led coalition government.
“It should also be a place which gives high-end facilities and gets high-end tourism, which benefits the sons of the soil,” he said.
Goa annually attracts more than six million tourists every year, which is four times its resident population of 1.5 million. Half a million foreign tourists also visit the coastal state every year.
The tourism rush peaks during the festive year-end week, when a bulk of domestic tourists visit the state, often putting pressure on the already inadequate public infrastructure, which Sardesai said needed to be upped.
“Today we are competing with Kerala, we are competing with Sri Lanka and mostly with South East Asia. Now South East Asia has a lot more to offer. They have got 500 golf courses, we do not have a single golf course and we still say we don’t want that,” the minister said, adding that high-end tourism-oriented facilities need to be created.
“(Need for) re-orienting tourism to get high-end and see that people who come to Goa is not just about quantity, but quality,” Sardesai said.
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Halal Food, Halal Industries, Markets, News, Politics
Mauvin Godinho
Panaji : There is no shortage of beef in Goa, Minister for Animal Husbandry Mauvin Godinho said on Friday. However, he admitted that the state’s only legal abattoir was not running to its full capacity.
Godinho was replying to a question from Congress MLA Francisco Silveira in the state legislative assembly.
The minister though said that Goa’s only legal slaughterhouse, the Goa Meat Complex, was not able to slaughter adequate number of cattle, due to livestock transport permit issues in neighbouring states.
The Congress leader wanted to know whether regular and sufficient beef supply would be ensured by the government.
Godinho, a minister in the Bharatiya Janata Party-led coalition cabinet in his written reply said: “There is no reported shortage.”
Meat traders in the state have warned of a beef shortage. They have accused vigilante groups of harassment during transportation of cattle to abattoirs, forcing them to import pre-slaughtered frozen beef from other regions for sale in Goa.
“The Goa Meat Complex Ltd. is fully operational. However, at present the traders are unable to bring animals for slaughter, as they are not getting Transport Permit Certificate to bring animals from outside the state,” Godinho said.
On an average, 22 cattle are being slaughtered every day, he said, even as the abattoir has the capacity to slaughter 120 cattle per shift.
Official statistics say that nearly 30 to 50 tons of beef is consumed in the state every day, largely by visiting tourists and the minority communities in the state, who account for nearly a third of Goa’s population.
In July 2016, Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar had assured the assembly that the government would ensure regular supply of beef to the state.
—IANS
