West Bengal meat scam: Mamata Banerjee govt forms nine-member committee to check malpractices

Kolkata: The panic over the carcass meat racket in West Bengal has prompted the state government to form a high-powered committee for keeping a check on such malpractices, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said on Tuesday. The police had recently busted a racket involved in supplying decomposed meat from dumping grounds to restaurants in and around the city. [caption id=“attachment_4071163” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee. PTI[/caption] A nine-member committee, headed by Chief Secretary Malay De, would devise a mechanism to deal with the issue, the chief minister said. “People have stopped eating meat after reports of the carcass racket scam surfaced. We have formed a high-powered committee, under the chief secretary, to chalk out a foolproof mechanism to stop such practices in the future,” Banerjee today told reporters at the state secretariat. The other committee members include state home secretary, director general of police, Kolkata police commissioner and principal secretaries of health, municipality affairs and urban department. “We want the people to eat what they like and enjoy. Once the mechanism is devised, we will tell people that they can have their meat items without any fear,” she said. Praising the role of the police in unearthing the scam, Banerjee said, “The racket is not limited to West Bengal, but was operated from other states too. The police have done a very good job.” Over the past few days, 11 people, including a leader of a political outfit, have been arrested in connection with the scam. A SIT was formed by the government to probe the matter after sleuths seized 20 tonnes of rotten meat, meant to be supplied to eateries and departmental stores of West Bengal and its neighbouring states, from a cold storage in central Kolkata. The West Bengal government has directed all police stations in the metropolis and the surrounding districts to keep a watch on the sale of meat in their areas, officials said.