Carcass meat racket: Bengal sets up high-level committee

The West Bengal government on Tuesday formed a high-powered committee headed by the Chief Secretary to come up with a fool-proof mechanism so as to check any recurrence of the sensational carcass meat case and also to assure people they can eat without fear.

Panic has gripped West Bengal after the police busted the carcass meat selling racket in the city and arrested 12 persons.

Police late last month busted the racket involved in processing the flesh of carcasses collected from dumping grounds in and adjoining suburbs and selling it to local restaurants and departmental stores. Police also seized huge quantity of rotten meat from a city cold storage.

"People have out of fear stopped taking meat. Lot of people have virtually stopped taking proper food. We want a fool-proof mechanism.

"We want to prevent any recurrence of such cases Aand at the same time we want people to eat without fear as per their individual tastes.

"We have formed a high level committee under chief secretary (Malay Dey). Seven more members, all principal secretaries of various departments, will be part of the panel Once they come up with a fool-proof mechanism, we will let people know the actions we have taken, so that they can have their meals without fear," Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee told media persons outside the state secretariat Nabanna.

She said the carcass meat issue was not confined within the borders of Bengal. "Many of the operators were from areas beyond the state's borders. Police have done a good job by making the arrests."

--IANS

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