RAWALPINDI, May 30: The officials of Sihala Slaughterhouse and the local police on Thursday seized 50 maunds of unhygienic meat brought from Jhang to the local market and booked six butchers.

Sihala Slaughter House General Manager Dr Mohammad Irshad told Dawn that following a tip-off, a team along with the local police raided Sarfraz Road at 4am and found six butchers unloading meat.

He said a veterinary doctor from Sihala slaughterhouse checked the meat and declared it unfit for human consumption.

He said that six butchers, Mohammad Waheed allias Taina, Khalid Shirazi, Mohammad Ilyas, Mohammad Akram, Abid Mehmood, Ajmal Khan and Mohammad Tanveer were arrested by the Waris Khan police.

The official said cases were registered against the butchers under the Punjab Slaughtering Act 1963 which barred butchers from slaughtering animals outside an abattoir.

He said that the TMA staff along with the district health department and local police would conduct raids in different markets and would issue challans to those found selling unstamped meat.

At present, only 80 per cent animals are being slaughtered in open places in the garrison city, though there are two government run abattoirs in the city. Besides, the sale of unhygienic meat went on unchecked in the markets.

To a question, Sihala Slaughterhouse General Manager Dr Mohammad Irshad told Dawn that the slaughterhouse administration tried to bring butchers in abattoir but most of them avoided.

“It is the duty of the Town Municipal Administrations to stop the illegal practice of the slaughtering animal on the streets and roads,” he said.

Rawal Town Municipal Administration (RTMA) spokesman Tahir Mehmood Khan told Dawn that the RTMA had provided space to the butchers at Railway Road but the butchers didn’t slaughter their animals.

However, local butcher Chaudhry Mohammad Iqbal complained that the slaughterhouse at Railway Road did not have any facility while Sihala Slaughterhouse was away from the main city areas.

He said Railway Road Slaughterhouse run by RTMA neither had water nor proper drainage system. He said that the RTMA and CDGR had been requested to improve the facilities at slaughter house so the butchers could go there.