Diseased livestock and rotten meat spread in Kishoreganj district market. It is alleged that some are selling dead beef also. Consumers are being cheated by buying all these meat regularly. Experts say people eating this meat are likely to suffer from a variety of complex diseases including heart disease, high blood pressure, water accumulation in the legs, fat accumulation in the liver, diarrhea. There are 119 markets in the district where animals are slaughtered every day. Although there are rules governing the mobile court of the district administration, the municipality, livestock department and the consumer rights department, it is currently inactive.
Every day animals are slaughtered in the district market. Every Friday, at least two to three hundred cows are slaughtered in the district. There are also goats, buffaloes and sheep. Most of these animals are slaughtered from outside and brought to market. Cows are slaughtered and sold in the market every day without any scrutiny. There is no way to distinguish between healthy or sick animals.
One buyer, Murad Mahmud, complains that most people living in the district eat meat to meet the needs of the protein. But they are being cheated every day by buying meat in the market. The sick and dying cows and goats flood the market. Not only that, sometimes stale and rotten meats are sold. The parts of slaughtered animals that are inaccessible to human food are no longer excluded. It mixed with meat. There is no monitoring system of the District Administration, Consumer Rights, Directorate of Animal Resources and Municipality. Even though there are rules for inspecting livestock and meat in the market for the district's responsible veterinary officers, it does not.
Some buyers, who did not want to be named, said the animal's owner contacted the meat traders when an animal became ill. The estimated value of the animal is 50 thousand taka and the meat traders buy it for 15 to 20 thousand taka. The meat was then slaughtered in the market. But most of it goes to local restaurant.
The Animal Slaughtered and Measures Control Act, 2011 states that before any animal slaughter there must be a declaration of a competent veterinary officer for a healthy animal. After the slaughter of animals, proper inspection should be carried out in accordance with the rules by the Veterinary Officer. Violation of this provision will result in maximum jail term of up to one year in jail or a fine of up to 5 thousand and up to 25 thousand taka or both penalties, according to mobile court law 2009.
In this regard, Dr. Nazrul Islam, District Livestock Officer, acknowledged the fact and said that animal testing cannot be done due to manpower crisis. People eating this meat are likely to suffer from a variety of complex diseases including heart disease, high blood pressure, water accumulation in the legs and fat accumulation in the liver, diarrhea. The monitoring of the market by the sanitary inspector under the municipality, however, does not happen. However, he said that the mobile court will be operated in the market with the assistance of the District Administration.
Alam Sarwar Titu, President of Kishoreganj CAB, said the district administration and the municipality have talked about it many times on behalf of consumer rights. The meat traders slaughtered the animals and continued their activities with fake seals. They even slaughtered the goats and continued to be Castrated Goat. Dead meat is also freely sold. Recently, it appears that animals are being slaughtered on the side of the road without being tested.
Additional District Magistrate Md. Golam Mostafa said legal action would be taken immediately after the sale of diseased and dead cattle and buffalo and goat meat in the market.
Kishoreganj Municipality Mayor Md. Parvez Mia said the matter will be resolved quickly and monitoring will be done by the municipality if it does not happen in the future.