Chief minister Suvendu Adhikari on Thursday directed district police chiefs and commissionerates to ensure strict adherence to sound regulations during religious ceremonies and festivals.

He also stressed that animal slaughter must comply with government rules.

“It was emphasised that religious institutions must follow prescribed sound limits. Police have again been instructed to ensure that noise levels do not exceed permissible limits,” said an officer who attended the meeting.

Adhikari is likely to hold another virtual review meeting with senior police officials, including officers-in-charge and inspectors-in-charge of police stations across the
state.

Sources in the state home department said the chief minister will hold the meeting virtually from Diamond Harbour on Saturday.

Suvendu Adhikari told officers on Thursday that animal slaughter, particularly cow slaughter, must not take place outside designated and certified locations, and that full compliance with rules must be ensured.

Strict action has also been ordered against illegal transportation of animals in vehicles, with police instructed to initiate legal proceedings wherever violations are detected, the sources said.

Following the meeting, Lalbazar directed all police stations to hold meetings with religious leaders from different communities and communicate the chief minister’s instructions.

The state government on Wednesday made it mandatory to obtain a fit-for-slaughter certificate before slaughtering bulls, bullocks, cows, calves, buffaloes, buffalo calves and castrated buffaloes.

Such slaughter will be permitted only if the chairman of a municipality or the sabhapati of a panchayat samity, along with a government veterinary surgeon, certifies in writing that the animal is over 14 years of age or is permanently incapacitated and unfit for work or breeding.

The notice barred public slaughter of these animals and said officials carrying out inspections to enforce the order should not face any resistance.

Unlike some earlier notices, the public notice does not mention any exemption for slaughter for religious, medicinal or research purposes.

“No person shall slaughter any animal, thereby meaning bulls, bullocks, cows, calves, male and female buffaloes, buffalo calves and castrated buffaloes, unless he has obtained in respect thereof a certificate that the animal is fit for slaughter,” the notice issued by the home and hill affairs department states.