MARGAO
Hazard a guess what does the Delhi-Goa Rajdhani Express and the Mangala Express bring to Goa when these trains chug at the Margao railway station.
Well, apart from the daily passengers, disembarking on the Margao railway station platforms, tonnes of beef brought from the national capital is unloaded at the station every day, bringing a sigh of relief to the beleaguered meat consumers.
In fact, even before the government-headed by Chief Minister Pramod Sawant issued instructions to the Animal husbandry officials to work out a solution to the beef scarcity in the State, both the Rajdhani Express and the Mangala Express unloaded tonnes of the beef from Delhi following a stop in the flow of beef from neighbouring Karnataka.
Take note, this isn’t the first time that cold storage owners have turned to Delhi for the regular supply of beef to tide over the scarcity of the meat. Local owners have been the regular buyers of tongue and undercuts from the Delhi-based beef suppliers over the years.
With supplies of meat from Karnataka coming to a halt for over a week now, the cold storage owners have been left with no option than to place orders for beef with the traders in the national capital.
President of All Goa Cold storage owners, Vernon Lobo said that cold storage owners have turned to Delhi for their beef requirements just to tide over the acute shortage of the meat in the state.
He said around two tonnes of beef, certified by the officials in the national capital comes to Goa by both the Rajdhani Express and the Mangala Express almost every day, which help to mitigate the hardships faced by the consumers since the last one week.
Goa’s requirement of beef is pegged around 8-10 tonnes a day, but with supplies from Karnataka almost coming to a halt, the State is facing a shortage of the meat since the last one week.
Lobo says that cold storage owners have to place orders with the Delhi-based beef suppliers and the consignment of meat is sent to the state via the Rajdhani Express and the Mangala Express with all legal documents.
Though supply of beef from Delhi has helped to tide over the situation, though marginally, it has given a sense of relief to the consumers and others, especially hotels and restaurants.
Another cold storage owner informed that the beef availability will stabilize only when there’s regular supply of the meat from neighbouring Karnataka.
Some of the beef stalls, which were shut down since the last week after supplies were hit from Karnataka, have reopened with reports indicating that they have started receiving beef from their own sources from across the border.
