Beef ban to hit Bangladesh: Rajnath Singh asks BSF to check cattle smuggling
Around 17 lakh cattle were smuggled to Bangladesh from India in 2014.
Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Wednesday asked the Border Security Force jawans deployed along the India-Bangladesh border to ensure a complete halt to the smuggling of cattle to Bangladesh.
"I am told the prices of beef in Bangladesh has gone up 30 per cent recently due to heightened vigil by the BSF against cattle smuggling. You further intensify your vigil so that the cattle smuggling stops completely," he said while addressing the jawans at a Border Out Post in West Bengal's Angrail.
According to official statistics, around 17 lakh cattle were smuggled to Bangladesh from India in 2014. The Home Minister, however, said India has very cordial relations with Bangladesh and wants to improve it further.
Later talking to reporters, the Home Minister said the government had set up a committee a few months ago to check smuggling of cattle, drugs and fake Indian currency notes. "The committee has almost completed its work and will submit its report in the next 15-20 days on how to check smuggling of cattle, drugs and FICN so that we can be more successful in ensuring security at the border," he said.
Singh said he would speak to chief ministers of those states from which the cattle are being transported to border for smuggling into Bangladesh.
Recently, BJP-ruled Maharashtra introduced a stringent Maharashtra Animal Preservation (Amendment) Act, which imposes a fine of Rs 10,000 and up to five years in prison on people found trading in or having beef. Another BJP-run state, Haryana, is also mulling a similar law. The sale and consumption of beef is also banned in Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh.
Recently, Rajnath Singh had hinted at the possibility of a blanket ban on cow slaughter. India is the world's second-largest exporter of beef after Brazil and the fifth biggest consumer of the meat.