Mauvin Godinho said the government was not against people who have meat. (File)
A perception was being created that the state's BJP-led government is against "meat eaters", Goa Animal Husbandry Minister Mauvin Godinho told the Goa Legislative Assembly today.
He was replying to a question raised by BJP MLA Glenn Ticlo: why the state-run slaughterhouse Goa Meat Complex Limited (GMCL) was non-functional.
Mr Godinho said that a perception was being created that since the state has a BJP-led government, it was against "meat eaters" and, therefore, was not allowing the GMCL to operate.
Speaking in the House, Mr Godinho said, "This (perception) is totally false. The GMCL's operations halved in October last year when animals were not allowed to be brought there due to an NGO."
"An NGO, which was not even from Goa said we were subjecting animals to cruelty. Lot of pressure was mounted on us," he told the House.
The minister said that by the time these issues at GMCL were sorted out, permissions from agencies like the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India, Goa State Pollution Control Board and the Inspectorate of Factories and Boilers had expired.
He said that these permissions had been obtained again and the state-run slaughterhouse was ready to restart on August 22, coinciding with Bakri Eid.
He informed the House that beef was, at present, being procured from Belgaum in neighbouring Karnataka.