KARACHI: Cattle suffering from various diseases are being brought for slaughtering in Karachi, posing a serious healthcare threat to the citizens, it has been learned.
According to details, diseased, injured and dying animals are being allowed to be killed and processed at the government-run slaughterhouse in Landhi and New Karachi, where no proper veterinary inspections are taking place.
Sources have informed that the concerned authorities are allegedly receiving a huge bribe by allowing slaughtering the diseased, injured and dying animals. Conditions at the slaughterhouse suggested that no detailed physical examination of animals was being carried out.
Sources further informed that the appointed veterinarians do not physically serve the civic entity and are also absent from the government-run slaughterhouses. The staff at the slaughterhouse is also illegally receiving exorbitant fees despite the official fees.
A staff member informed that the livestock sector is suffering across Sindh, adding that no vaccination or veterinary team has visited the local cattle market. No slips are issued to the animal owner declaring his animal healthy during the antemortem stage.
Additionally, there is no laboratory at the slaughterhouse, and neither have officials ever sent a case to the nearby government veterinary laboratory for the investigation of any disease.
According to the Karachi Municipal Corporation Slaughter House Bye-Laws 1975, all animals to be slaughtered shall be presented for inspection during the prescribed hours before the relevant officer and the animals shall be recorded as healthy in a form. Then, the officer-in-charge will issue an inspection slip with necessary particulars to the licensed butcher or middle-man.
