After carcass meat, now rotten fish seized in Kolkata

After the exposure of a racket in the sale of carcass meat collected from dumpyards, the civic authorities on Thursday seized around 70 kg of rotten fish during a surprise check on the city's southern outskirts.

A shop was sealed by the Budge Budge Municipality officials on charge of storing rotten fish in refrigerators for a long duration.

"We found two big freezers storing almost 70 kg fish and 4-5 kg meat," said a municipal official who was part of the raiding team.

"Everything was stale, though frozen with lots of ice. While inspecting, we could see insects crawling in the meat. I am sure the fish was stored for a long time," she added.

"We conduct suprise checks in area markets from time to time. The carcass meat racket also came to light in our locality first during the surprise check. After that, we had been continuing with our inspections, during which we got a tip-off about fish being stored in two big refrigeratos in the area," said the official.

The carcass meat racket was busted last month after authorities raided animal dump yards in Budge Budge and a few other places.

A dozen people have since been arrested for alleged involvement in the racket, wherein carcass meat was collected from dumpyards in and around the city and stored in cold storage and later supplied to city restaurants and departmental stores.

"It is not that the carcass meat racket and the rotten fish business is thriving only at Budge Budge. It is just that we are the ones who have caught hold of the culprits first," she added.

Legal action is being taken and the municipality has also lodged a complaint with police.

--IANS

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