LAHORE, March 31: The ongoing butchers’ strike against old slaughterhouse closure by the city district government is causing an acute shortage of beef in the provincial capital for the last many days.

The butchers went on a strike after the CDGL closed down the old slaughterhouse some two weeks ago and started forcing them to shift their business from Kot Kamboh to the modern slaughterhouse at Shahpur Kanjran on Multan Road built by the Punjab Agriculture and Meat Company (Pamco) in collaboration with Iranian government.

“We had requested the authorities many a time that the newly opened slaughterhouse is not a viable project. First of all under the new process the animals have to suffer a lot of pain which is against Islamic injunctions. We sent many animals to the new facility but the automatic machines and the staff couldn’t slaughter them properly, causing loss to us,” Sheikh Anwar Saeed, chief of Jamiatul Quresh Pakistan, a representative body of the butchers, claimed while talking to Dawn.

He said though the new slaughterhouse was the most modern setup in Pakistan, it failed to attract butchers. “Actually the  authorities want to make the new slaughterhouse a success by hook or by crook, ignoring the fact that how many butchers and those indirectly linked with this business would suffer due to this initiative,” he deplored.

He said there were hundreds of butchers, meat sellers and those indirectly linked with this business since long at the old slaughterhouse. But the new one, being fully mechanised, couldn’t provide jobs to such a large number of people. “That is why the entire community is on strike,” he added.

He said the butchers who were slaughtering animals at Shahdara and Baghbanpura slaughterhouses had also stopped work to express solidarity with their community.

He said the DCO after holding a meeting with the butchers recently also visited Kot Kamboh area and heard the problems faced by them due to closure of old slaughterhouse. “Though he (the DCO) had assured us of resolving the issue, he has yet to take any action in this regard,” Mr Saeed said.

He quoted a recent example of a butcher, Shahzad, who took his eight animals to the new slaughterhouse for getting them slaughtered. “But the improper slaughtering of the animals resulted in total loss to the butcher,” he said.

He claimed that he, on behalf of butchers, had also moved the Lahore High Court with regard to the issue that was expected to hear final arguments and announce a decision on April 2.

He said the matter could be resolved if the government opened the old slaughterhouse by limiting the new facility’s operation to meat export activities alone.

“So the government should either open the old slaughterhouse or make appropriate arrangements at the new one, accommodating all the butchers at the new facility. Otherwise, the strike will continue, resulting in non-availability of beef and meat in the city,” Mr Saeed said.

Zulifqar Ayub, a meat seller at Kot Kamboh, Bakar Mandi (old slaughterhouse), regretted that Pamco and the CDGL authorities didn’t take the butcher community into confidence prior to launching the project.

He was also apprehensive about the prices as he feared that at the new facility the costs for butchers would be on higher side and this would push up meat and beef rates in the market.

“At the old slaughterhouse, the administration was charging Rs200 per animal as fee for slaughtering, skin removing and cutting into pieces the beef. While about the new slaughterhouse, we have been informed by some insiders that the contractor will initially charge Rs500 fee, but later it will be gradually increased, may be up to Rs1,200 per animal,” he explained.

He, however, said the main concern of the striking butchers was to protect livelihood of those working at the old slaughterhouse.

“We are ready to shift our business to the new facility. But we want that the butchers and other workers at the old one should be allowed to do the slaughtering work at the new facility in Islamic way,” he added.

Pamco chief Dr Hamid Jalil and DCO Noorul Amin Mengal were not available for their comments despite repeated calls made by this reporter.