The bill banning cow slaughter in Maharashtra, pending for several years, on Monday received the President's assent, which means red meat lovers in the state will have to do without beef.
This measure has taken almost twenty years to materialize and was initiated during the previous Sena-BJP government.The bill was first submitted to the President for approval on January 30, 1996.. However, subsequent governments at the Centre, including the BJP led NDA stalled it and did not seek the President’s consent.
A delegation of seven state BJP MPs led by Kirit Somaiya, (MP from Mumbai North) had met the President in New Delhi recently and submitted a memorandum seeking assent to the bill. The memorandum said that the Maharashtra Animal Preservation (Amendment) Bill, 1995, passed during the previous Shiv Sena-BJP regime, was pending for approval for 19 years.
"Thanks a lot honourable President sir for the assent on Maharashtra Animal Preservation Bill. Our dream of ban on cow-slaughter becomes reality now," chief minister Devendra Fadnavis said on Twitter. A delegation of seven state BJP MPs had met the President recently and submitted a memorandum.
Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis. PTI
The law will ban beef from the slaughter of bulls and bullocks, which was previously allowed based on a fit-for-slaughter certificate, according to The Indian Express. The new Act will, however, allow the slaughter of water buffaloes.
The punishment for the sale of beef or possession of it could be prison for five years with an additional fine of Rs 10,000. “Apart from rendering people jobless, the immediate effect will be the spiralling price of other meats as people will be forced to gravitate to them,” Indian Express quoted president of the Mumbai Suburban Beef Dealer Association Mohammed Qureshi as saying.
Reuters had earlier reported that Hindu nationalists in India had stepped up attacks on the country's beef industry, seizing trucks with cattle bound for abattoirs and blockading meat processing plants in a bid to halt the trade in the world's second-biggest exporter of beef.
महाराष्ट्र में गोहत्या अब गैर-कानूनी हो गया है। राज्य में गोहत्या पर प्रतिबंध लगाने वाले विधेयक को सोमवार को राष्ट्रपति की मंजूरी मिल गई। यह विधेयक कई साल से लंबित था।
राज्य के वित्त मंत्री सुधीर मुंगतीवर ने कहा, 'मैं बहुत खुश हूं कि राष्ट्रपति ने आखिरकार अपनी मंजूरी दे दी। हम इस विधेयक को पारित कर कानून का रूप देने के लिए पिछले कई साल से कड़ी मेहनत कर रहे हैं। यह न सिर्फ पशुओं की हत्या पर रोक सुनिश्चित करेगा बल्कि कृषि की स्थिति को भी स्थिर करेगा। पशुओं की हत्या नहीं होने से कृषि की उत्पादकता बढ़ेगी... यहां तक कि पैसों के लिए स्वस्थ पशुओं को मारा जा रहा है।'
सांसद किरीट सोमैया के नेतृत्व में राज्य बीजेपी के सात सांसदों के एक प्रतिनिधिमंडल ने हाल ही में राष्ट्रपति से नई दिल्ली में मुलाकात की थी और विधेयक को मंजूरी देने के लिए एक ज्ञापन सौंपा था। ज्ञापन में कहा गया था कि पिछली शिव सेना-बीजेपी सरकार के समय पारित किया गया महाराष्ट्र पशु संरक्षण (संशोधन) विधेयक 1995 पिछले 19 साल से मंजूरी के लिए लंबित था।