Hey Mumbai, no more beef fry: VHP stops supply of buffalo meat too

Were you among those placated by the fact that your supply of beef wouldn’t be hit because the Maharashtra government had not banned the slaughter of buffalo? Well the VHP has ensured that you won’t be getting beef of any kind, bull or buffalo, any time soon because it has now managed to procure a ban on all slaughter in Mumbai’s Deonar abbatoir and other meat centres across the state. While the Maharashtra legislation banned the slaughter of bulls and not that of buffaloes, the VHP went to the Bombay High court and received an order from Justice VM Kanade ordering the state to stop the killing of bulls and bullocks, according to a Reuters report.   [caption id=“attachment_2137125” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image of an abattoir. Reuters image[/caption] The report also quoted Vyankatesh Abdeo, the all-India secretary of the VHP as saying that if they waited for the final order from the Maharashtra government “thousands of cattle would have been slaughtered.” As a result of the order, abbatoirs across the state have put operations on hold, including the slaughter of buffaloes, as they await clarity on what to do next. The general manager of the Deonar abbattoir in Mumbai from where Mumbai receives its supply of beef, told the Indian Express that they had stopped the slaughtering of bulls and buffaloes and they had officially implemented the ban. While the slaughter of other animals hasn’t been stopped, there’s no beef coming out of the Deonar abbattoir at least until the state government gives clear orders on what is and isn’t to be done. The state’s beef traders have appealed to the Bombay High Court challenging the order and could be heard today. While smaller restaurants like Sarvi in Nagpada, that sell deliciously succulent beef kebabs, are already worried about their future, the ban on all slaughter will mean that even the high-end restaurants that serve beef will be soon running on empty unless there’s some relief coming from the Bombay High Court.