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Assistant Municipal Commissioner (Markets), A Hiree, says, “Zeenat Qureshi of the AWB contacted me at 7 am and requested us to send a squad.” Civic officials loaded the illegal meat into a van and took it to Bombay Veterinary College at Parel for examination. Says Dr V L Devpurkar, principal and dean of the faculty at the Bombay Veterinary College: “The Anatomy Department will test the meat to determine whether it is cow meat or buffalo meat,” The department has taken two skulls and samples of meat for microscopic examination.
“If we are able to get an intact skin sample, by studying the skin texture, we shall be able to confirm the identity of the animal,” he adds. However, Dr Devpurkar also states that microscopic tests do not give a cent per cent diagnosis and that chemical tests are more reliable. “Unfortunately, the college has neither cattle antiserum or the instruments to carry out chemical tests to ascertain the species of the animal,” he explains.
Asked whether the confiscated meat is fit for human consumption, Dr Devpurkar said that the college has only been asked to ascertain the species of the animal meat and not to conduct any bacteriological tests. The test results will be out in seven to eight days. Adds Additional Municipal Commissioner Hiree, “We don't consider the meat fit for human consumption since it has already been transported in such an illegal and unhygenic manner.
Abrar Qureshi and his wife Zeenat, both members of the board, say that 30 to 35 tonnes of meat is sold in Mumbai daily, of which a mere 25 per cent comes from the Deonar abattoir. The rest is sold by unauthorized butchers in unhygenic conditions. “We believe that the meat we seized was supplied from one of the butcher-kangpins at Govandi and was headed for she in Bengalipura lane at Dongri,” says Abrar Qureshi, 'who along with his wife Zeenat have been tracking illegal butchers in Central Mumbai and conducting regular raids.
The Qureshis are members of the
Welfare Board, which falls under the jurisdiction of the Union Ministry
of Environment and Forests.
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