Meatless In The Valley

The Kashmir valley is facing an acute shor­tage of mutton since the government fixed its retail price at Rs 480 per kg. Accusing the government of forcing them to sell at a loss, mutton dealers are on indefinite strike. Last November, before prices were fixed for the first time in six years, mutton was being sold at Rs 600 per kg. “For the past four mon­ths, mutton shops across Kashmir are closed as the government is asking us to incur los­ses,” says Meraj-ud-Din Ganai, general secretary, All Jammu and Kashmir Mutton Dealers Association. “They are not taking electricity and water bills, shop rent and transportation char­ges into consideration while fixing the price.”

The dealers say they procure mutton from outside the Valley, including other states like Rajasthan, at an average cost of Rs 519 per kg and earn a margin of Rs 22, while the retailers add Rs 50 to the selling price, taking it to Rs 591. They describe a retail price between Rs 550 and Rs 600 as reasonable. In February, the mutton dealers took a team of local journalists to different states to ascertain the prices of mutton outside Kashmir. The team concurred with the views of the dealers.

According to the sheep husbandry ­department, Kashmir division, of the roughly 22 lakh sheep slaughtered in the Valley every year, only around 6.5 lakh were raised locally. Low local production of sheep in the Valley leads to escalation of costs. Stating that the price was fixed after consultation with experts, officials allege that traders always inflate the prices. FIRs have been lodged against 200 dealers for violating orders, and around 35 shops have been sealed. Meanwhile, meat-lovers have taken to social media with memes of sheep and ­butchers, besides ridiculing the ­government’s failure to resolve the issue.

By Naseer Ganai in Srinagar