DHAKA: Indian Home Minister, Rajnath Singh, has ordered the country’s Border Security Force (BSF) to firmly stop the smuggling. It is estimated that 2.5 million heads of cattle from India are smuggled into Bangladesh each year.
That would be closely the sum India would need to spend to take care of about 125 billion unproductive animals if cattle smuggling were halted.
There is widespread belief, that this illegal grade has the connivance of the BSF, a charge the border force vehemently denies.
The report quotes sources to say that sheer the economics of the cattle business might make it impossible to stop the smuggling altogether.
Bangladesh has a multi-million dollar cattle-meat processing industry that is served almost entirely by the supply of Indian cattle.
The bulk of that meat is exported by Bangladesh to Gulf countries with only a small amount consumed within the country.
“I am told prices of beef in Bangladesh have gone up by 30 percent recently due to heightened vigil by BSF against cattle smuggling.
“You further intensify your vigil so that the cattle smuggling stops completely and prices of beef in Bangladesh escalates 70-80 oercent more so that people of Bangladesh give up eating beef,” Singh as telling BSF guards on the West Bengal border.
Hence, the cost of maintaining unproductive cattle arises.
If the smuggling is stopped, India will have to take care of 12.5 million dry cattle each year.
The industry estimates the cost of arranging fodder, shelter, and cowherds’ salaries would add up to about Rs 25,000 per cow each year.
Going by that estimate, the government would have to shell out Rs 312.5 billion each year for its dry cow population each year.
