CHITRAL, Nov 10: Meat unfit for human consumption is being sold in the Chitral bazaar in connivance with officials of the Livestock Department who do not examine animals before slaughter.

It is a common observation that no veterinary doctor or any other official is present in the slaughterhouse to examine the animals to determine if their meat will be fit for human consumption.

Livestock officials put the examination stamp on the carcass only when it is brought to the bazaar for sale, residents said.

Most of the animals are slaughtered on the river banks, streams or in open fields instead of the abattoir.

In the wake of the outbreak of veterinary diseases in the district, the residents fear mixing of meat of the affected cows with that of healthy animals.

Sources said the police often seized such meat when it was being unloaded at a butcher's shop in the city.

When contacted by Dawn, livestock officer Dr Shakirullah admitted that no personal of his department was present at abattoir at the time of slaughter and that the stamp of his department was affixed to the carcass of the animal at the butcher's shop. He said it was the duty of the tehsil municipal administration to ensure that only that meat was being sold in the market to which official stamp was affixed.

He said it was true that most of the animals were slaughtered in open fields instead of the slaughterhouse. He, however, could not come up with a plausible answer when asked why stamps were affixed on separate pieces of meat in the market.

When the tehsil nazim was contacted, he put the responsibility on the livestock department, and said the TMA's job was only to check the official stamp on the meat and regulate its price.

SUICIDE: A teen-aged girl, Fahmida, ended her life by jumping into a river at Jughoor village here on Wednesday.