BJP fumes as BMC floats tender for ‘cow-meat’

Mumbai: In a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-ruled state, where beef is banned, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) created a storm by floating a tender to procure ‘cow meat’. The move left the BJP exasperated and it demanded that the tenders be revoked immediately and action be taken against the civic officials who prepared the proposal.  In a letter written to civic chief Ajoy Mehta, party group leader Manoj Kotak said that such a tender is a blatant violation of the state act that prohibits the sale and purchase of cow meat.

On October 9, the BMC had floated an advertisement in various newspapers for the purchase of ‘cow meat’, to feed the animals at the Byculla Zoo. However, taking strong objection to the proposal, Mr Kotak dashed off a letter to the municipal commissioner asking him to take stern action in the matter.

“The advertisement clearly says that cow-meat is to be purchased for Byculla Zoo. I have demanded that a show-cause notice be issued to the concerned department and also to ensure that such a blunder not be repeated,” said Mr Kotak.

The slaughter of cows, bulls, bullocks and calves, has been completely banned in the state under the Maharashtra Animal Preservation (amendment) Act (MAPA), 1995. It also prohibits the consumption of their meat.

The BMC officials were left red-faced after the matter came to light. Taking a strong note of this, directives were issued to hold an inquiry into how the goof-up took place. An explanation was sought from officials of the department, which had prepared the advertisement.

An official from BMC’s Public Relations (PR) department claimed that it must have happened due to an error in translation. “The error has occurred in other language newspapers other than Marathi and English,” said an official from the PR department.

“The advertisement was meant for inviting tenders for beef (excluding cows and bulls). We had provided content for the advertisement in Marathi and English newspapers, whereas in Hindi and Gujarati newspapers, it was translated at their own level. The mistake has occurred due to erroneous translation,” he added.

The Byculla Zoo authorities too clarified that they had not asked for the purchase of cow meat.

“Instead tenders were invited for the purchase of buffalo meat and eggs, which is to be fed to animals like hyenas and small cats in the zoo. But the advertisements published in newspapers said something else,” said a zoo official.