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Enforce slaughter ban: CM Himanta Biswa Sarma to district admins
Guwahati: Assam chief minister,
Himanta Biswa Sarma
has issued a stern directive to the district administrations on Friday, asking them to enforce the ban on cow slaughter within a five-kilometre radius of any Hindu religious sites, in accordance to the Assam Cattle Preservation Act 2021.
The chief minister's directive comes in the wake of multiple incidents where animal body parts were found near places of worship in Dhubri, Goalpara, Jorhat, Lakhimpur districts, and with a fresh incident being reported from Hojai district.
Addressing the issue during a press conference in Lok Sabha Bhawan, Sarma said, "In the past few days, especially after Ei-ul-zuha. We have seen several attempts to create unrest.
We have observed that such incidents often occur in sensitive areas, mostly in places where beef consumption during Eid is common. As per the law, within a five kilometre radius, of a temple or Namghar, consumption, slaughter or sale of beef is completely prohibited.
But, during this year's Eid, this provision was not strictly enforced by the district administration, as a result locals were not alerted or informed, if they had been made aware of the five kilometre restriction, these incidents might have been avoided. All these incidents happened within the said radius of the namghars and temples. Therefore, the district administrations have been directed to strictly implement the cattle preservation act."
The CM added that a standard operating procedures would be handed to the district administrations which to help ensure that no such incidents happen again.
