Thursday, December 29, 2011

Jharkhand: Little concern for hygiene at meat, poultry sales corners

Dec 29, 2011, 06.57AM IST
RANCHI: Even as avian flue scare grips the state, the health department and municipality are turning a blind eye to hygiene when it comes to the sale of meat and poultry.

Jharkhand witnessed a spate of crow deaths in recent weeks and tests revealed that the dead scavengers were afflicted by the H5N1 virus. Though this virus has so far not spread to other species, experts have voiced concern about possible chances of human contamination if not checked.

Hundreds of poultry shops in the city operate near open drains with flies and dogs feasting on wastes of chicken and mutton. But no one has taken any step to stop this unhygienic exercise so far. The slaughterhouses in Ranchi are also a horrible sight. The skinned goats are hung at makeshift shops in busy areas. "These shops should have closed glass enclosures with curtains. Flouting of norms means a fine ranging from Rs 1,000 to 2,000," said an official of the Ranchi Municipal Corporation. But who cares?

Corporation authorities claimed to have launched many drives against these shops and even fined them. "We have taken stringent action against them but they have returned," said Gopalji Tiwary, deputy chief executive officer of RMC.

A roadside mutton shopowner, asked, "Where do we go if the municipality has so far failed to give us a proper shop in a market? After all this is our livelihood."

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