Ranchi Municipal Corporation (RMC) has readied elaborate bylaws to issue licences to meat shops and slaughterhouses, trade in which is currently banned in the capital along with other parts of the state, after a March 27 order from the home department to close units without licences revealed the non-regulated nature of the existing business.

RMC's health officer Kiran Kumari said they made their own set of rules for Ranchi after in-house deliberations.

The bylaws will now be tabled at an RMC board meeting soon.

"We have now decided to licences to meat shops and slaughterhouse categories. In the former, only sale will happen. In the latter, culling will take place," she said.

For both meat shops and slaughterhouses, Aadhaar number and up-to-date receipt of user charges (municipal bills) are mandatory to apply for licences.

"For licence to run meat shops, an applicant must furnish deed papers of his outlet or if it is on rent, a rent agreement along with copy of Aadhaar number and updated user charges receipt. The meat shop owner will also give an affidavit specifying from which slaughterhouse he will get his meat. This apart, he should have chiller units to transport and store meat, 24/7 power and water facility, give an undertaking of clearing waste generated within 24 hours, give monthly report of sales and vet certification of whether the product he is supplying is fit for human consumption," she said.

After submission of application, officials from RMC's environment section would inspect premises to verify claims made before recommending for licence.

For slaughterhouse category, many meat shop rules will remain. In addition, each slaughterhouse will have a permanent vet on service.

"Each slaughterhouse will have provision of permanent veterinarian who will conduct anti-mortem and post-mortem tests certifying both animals and meat derived from it is safe for human consumption on a daily basis," she said, while other parameters like cleanliness, Aadhaar, etc, will remain the same.

"Only 100 chickens can be culled a day. If it's a big animal, the cap is 10 per day," Kumari said.

How will the RMC track if vet certification is being done on a daily basis?

"Slaughterhouses will have to maintain daily data and submit it to us on a monthly basis. We will conduct random checks," she said.

Still, chances of forgery exist as one can easily fix a veterinarian to generate fake certificates daily.

"Such risks always exist in any trade but we will fix ways to plug it as well. It's a new thing for us too and we are slowly gearing up to rationalise the market in all terms," she said.

What about licence fees?

"For meat shops, it is Rs 2,000 per head while the rate for slaughterhouse is yet to decided," she signed off.