Sale of meat goes up in Bengal, thanks to govt infomercial

Kolkata: The infomercial that was telecast on different channels following the direction of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to sensitise buyers about the right quality of meat, has ensured a rise in its sale.

The sale of both raw and cooked meat in eateries in the state had witnessed a huge drop, after the carcass meat row came to light in mid-April. Now, being aware of the steps needed to be taken to buy the right quality meat, people are now once again purchasing the same, after assessing its quality properly.

The state government had set up a high powered committee to evolve a foolproof mechanism to bring an end to the selling of carcass meat. The

police had also arrested the kingpin of the racket to completely uproot the menace.

Besides taking the steps, the necessity of creating awareness among people was also felt by the state government, so that people get to know the right steps need to be taken to verify the quality of meat before buying.

The Chief Minister had held a meeting with the task force in June and directed the concerned officials to take initiative for preparing an infomercial to create awareness among people.

The Information and Cultural Affairs department took the initiative. Actors Prosenjit Chatterjee and Nusrat Jahan were roped in and a 50-second long film was prepared.

The film, in which the Tollywood actors were found urging people to verify before buying that the packaged meat is certified by FSSAI (Food Safety and Standards Authority of India) and at the same time, not to pay heed to any rumours.

The infomercial has helped the people know the steps that they must take to buy fresh meat and has also helped people come out of a panicky situation in terms of buying chicken or meat.

According to an official of the state government, the telecast of the infomercial had been appearing for the past few weeks on television channels. "It (the infomercial) has become very effective as all aspects that people need to know to buy meat have been told in a nutshell and it was presented in a very simple way as well. It has helped people to pick up the information easily," the official said.

Though it would take some time to create awareness among the entire populace in the state, the Chief Minister's initiative to telecast the infomercial on television channels has helped in regaining confidence of a large section of people.

It may be recalled that the sale of chicken and meat preparations in eateries had dropped by around 40 percent, soon after the carcass meat row came to light. With constant monitoring by the local civic bodies in their respective areas, sale of stale meat has also been checked.

When contacted, B P Gopalika, principal secretary, Animal Resources Development department, was not available for any comment.