The crackdown on slaughter houses and the indefinite strike has affected lives of meat sellers.
On any other day, Bulandshahr district's livestock market in Gulaothi town 60 km from the national capital Delhi would have been bustling with activity and trades in about 1,500-2,000 buffaloes. On Monday, there was just one tied to a tree for sale by its owner, a farm labourer who had hoped to return home with enough money for his father's treatment. But there were no buyers.
The Uttar Pradesh government's crackdown on slaughter houses coupled with the indefinite strike by meat sellers has not only stalled processing of meat in the state but is also touching more lives than may have been expected.
The initial round of talks between Health Minister Mr Sidharth Nath Singh and the meat sellers could not break the deadlock on Tuesday. Mr Singh insisted that the licensed slaughter houses "should comply with the norms mentioned in the licence and need not to fear".
From Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath to Mr Singh, the government has promised that licensed slaughter houses did not have anything to worry. But meat exporters say the government had already shut down nearly 10 meat processing units across the state.
Over 50 km from Gulaothi town, out-of-work employees at Meerut's Al Aqsa plant that was shut down say the government officials who came to seal the unit appeared to be just looking for an excuse to shut the plant.
If this was about targeting the dominant community in the meat trade, Ankur, a worker counted himself as the collateral casualty. About 30 per cent of the workforce in this plant was Hindu by religion. "I am a BJP supporter myself. I don't think that the new government would want so much unemployment," chipped in Rajkumar Singh, a refrigeration engineer.
Livestock traders suggest it wasn't only the government agencies they were worried about. The vigilante groups who often stop vehicles to check if they are carrying any buffaloes are a bigger worry for them. "It doesn't matter anymore if the buffaloes aren't meant for slaughter. No one will believe us," said a trader at Gulaothi market.
The developments in Uttar Pradesh have already started squeezing supplies elsewhere too. In West Bengal, a Press Trust of India report said, supplies of meat, mostly buffalo meat had declined sharply and would impact the state's flourishing meat-packaging industry.