It will not be easy to move the cattle market at Khanapara further inside the state, Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Minister AL Hek said today.
The cattle market is presently located right on the border with Assam. The High Court of Meghalaya recently told the state government to look into the relocation of cattle markets so as to adhere to the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Regulation of Livestock Markets) Rules 2017.
The previous state government in 2017 had opposed the central government’s rules for a variety of reasons, including opposition to Rule 8, which mandates that animal markets are located no closer than 25km from a state border and 50km from an international one. The rules had also been criticised for attempting to clamp down on cattle slaughter, when the subject had been previously dealt with as a state subject, with Meghalaya not putting restrictions on the slaughter of cattle for meat.
Hek said today that Meghalaya is a very small state moving the markets away from the borders would be unviable.
Meanwhile, the minister also said that it is the collective job of the Customs, police and Border Security Force (BSF) to ensure that cattle smuggling does not take place along the Indo-Bangladesh border in Meghalaya.
The BSF frequently detects and seizes cattle meant to be smuggled illegally over the border into Bangladesh.
