CONRAD DIAS
Ranchi, Sept 9: As the cases of pig deaths in the city have become a matter of concern, people tend to dispose of the bodies of dead animals in rivers, increasing the risk of various diseases. Keeping this in mind, the Ranchi Municipal Corporation (RMC) has written a letter to the district administration and will also take strict actions if dead pigs are disposed of in the open.
An official at the DC office confirmed the information but gave no further details regarding the contents of the written letter.
Moreover, RMC has also issued helpline numbers (9431104429, 0651-2200011) for pig owners/parents to call in case a pig dies as RMC will take complete responsibility for the disposal of the dead pig.
Recently, around 20 pigs were found to be disposed of in the Harmu river and the locals complained of the area being polluted with a foul smell.
The PDO of pig breeding farm Kanke, while talking to lagatar24.com, informed that currently, more than a thousand pigs have already died on the farm in the last two months. However, the cases of deaths on the farm have currently been on a decline.
The effect on the pork market
As more than 1000 pigs have died in Ranchi since July due to suspected African swine flu, various pork sellers across the district that set up their shops in multiple ‘bazaars’ in various locations have been affected. Moreover, many restaurants across the city which serve pork on their menu are unable to find any pork sellers in the city.
Namkum Bazaar, Shalimar Bazaar and Satranji Bazaar are some of the most famous places in Ranchi where pork is sold twice a week. Thousands of people across the city are its buyers. However, in the last two months, the sale has dropped rapidly and many sellers have moved to sell alternative meats such as chicken and mutton.
“Our small cafe in Ranchi is famous for pork momos but for the last two months, we are made to sell chicken momos as there are no pork sellers in the market. The majority of our customers are pork lovers and unfortunately it has affected our business somewhat,” said the owner of Bistro Ahava, a food cafe in Ranchi.
