‘Illegal’ slaughterhouses raided in Uttarakhand, notices sent to seven people

The accused were booked under two separate cases — illegal slaughtering of bovines and violation of environmental norms — and asked to reply in three days

After Uttar Pradesh, it is the Uttarakhand government’s turn to crack down on illegal slaughterhouses operating across the state.

Government teams raided three places with “unlicensed abattoirs” in Dehradun on Saturday morning, issuing notices to seven people. According to sources, bovines were being slaughtered under unhygienic conditions even as the operation was in progress.

The team – comprising officials from the police, municipal, district administration and food safety departments – started by raiding Inamullah Building, located in a Muslim-dominated area in the heart of Dehradun, at 4 am. They reportedly witnessed bovines being slaughtered, and blood flowing into drains in gross violation of environmental norms.

“The accused neither had valid licences nor adequate arrangements for proper disposal of waste. The conditions were extremely dangerous, polluting and life-threatening,” Anoj Kumar Thapliyal, designated officer of the Food Safety and Standards Authority in Dehradun, told Hindustan Times.

The team also raided slaughterhouses at Kargi Chowk and Chukhuwala, and returned with similar reports. In all, four people from Inamullah Building (Abdul Salam, Naushad, Mohammad Shahzad and Irfan Kureshi), two from Muslim Colony in Kargi (Mohammad Gulfam Ahmad and Mustakim), and one from Chukhuwala (Vikas Sonkar) were served notices.

They were booked under two separate cases of illegal slaughtering of bovines and violation of environmental norms. The first offence, to be decided in the chief judicial magistrate’s court, will entail six months’ imprisonment and a penalty of up to Rs 50,000. The second, which will be judged in the additional district magistrate’s court, is punishable with a penalty of up to Rs 2 lakh.

The traders were given three days to submit their responses to food safety officers. All the cases have been booked under the Food Safety and Standards Act-2006.

Superintendent of police (city) Ajay Singh said this was just the start. “Similar raids will happen in the coming days. We won’t allow any illegal slaughterhouse to exist,” he added.

Sources say there are over 50 illegal abattoirs in the district, spread across suburban areas such as Sahaspur, Vikasnagar, Premnagar, Doiwala and Chakrata.