Daijiworld News Network - Mangalore (GA)

Mangalore, Mar 29: As the people of the district are eagerly waiting March 31, the day when for the first time the official slaughter house at Kudroli will be taken over by Rajesh Shetty who is supported by Hindu organizations.  So far the slaughter house was run by Muslims.  But in the last couple of years, there have been wild protest by the Bajrang Dal and other fundamental Hindu organizations about the selling of beef.

The complaint has been that slaughter house is not run as per the law and a lot of irregularities are on in the slaughter house such as absence of a doctor who has to examine and certify the cattle before slaughtering, absence of hygienic facilities etc.  

So in order to stop all these irregularities, the Hindu organizations led by Bajrang Dal have won the tender for Rs 8 lac to run the slaughter house for the year 2006-07.  Their day will start from April 1.

In the meantime, Bajrang Dal has warned the district administration against the 16 slaughter houses which run illegally in the district.  The organization has given a week's time to the administration to close all these slaughter houses.  "However, if the administration fails in this, we would shut these illegal slaughter houses by force," said Bajrang Dal convenor Rajgopal Rai in a press conference here.

He said that illegal slaughter houses are involved in the slaughter of cattle at Panjimogaru, Kulur, Katipalla, Angaragundi, Suratkal and Jokatte areas.  "Though we have complained about them with the administration, no action has yet been taken.  While there are 16 such slaughter houses in the entire district, 7 are running within the ambits of Mangalore City Corporation itself," he added.

Accordingly, Bajrang Dal has organized a protest march from PVS Circle to MCC on Wednesday March 29 at 3 in the evening.  Dr Madhav Bhandari will address the protestors.

He also said that if the administration fails in closing these illegally run slaughter houses, VHP, Bajrang Dal and other fundamental Hindu organizations will take to the street.

"We will not allow selling of beef in any of the beef stall and will stop selling of beef completely in the district.  District administration will be responsible for any incidents of violence that may occur during our operation.  But if the administration works lawfully, we will not disturb anyone," said he.