According to kuenselonline.com, the National Assembly lifted the ban on January 8.
But the house agreed to prohibit the sale of meat on the auspicious 8th, 15th and 30th day of every Bhutanese month, and on the 4th day of the 6th month. Sale of meat is also to be banned on day marking the descending of Lord Buddha.
The state-owned news portal said the agriculture minister, Pema Gyamtsho, told the house that the ban was ineffective and nobody actually observed it.
“The ban was in fact risky for consumers, because thousands of people rushed to meat stalls around the country to stock up weeks ahead of the ban,” the news portal quoted minster Gyamtsho as saying. “People stocked meat in refrigerators and some used unhygienic methods, with risks of food poisoning and other diseases.”
The minister said that many tourists and guests face inconvenience during the ban months and many Bhutanese also conduct a series of religious rituals, of which meat is an important part, during those two months.
However, Gasa MP Damchoe Dorji argued in the house that the ban should not be lifted as it would not only save the lives of many animals, but also stop the proliferation of slaughterhouses and farms in the country in future.
While some MPs said that most people still consume meat during the auspicious months, others said the two-month ban would only work if the Bhutanese people consciously stopped eating meat. But many members of parliament agreed with the agriculture minister that, with the ban in place, the lives of animals were shortened by months because of the demand by people stocking up in advance.
According to government statistics, Bhutan imports about 6,000 kg of beef, 3,000 kg pork and some 2,500 kg of fish daily. The Himalayan kingdom imported around 3,000 metric tonnes of beef, 2,000 metric tonnes of pork and around 1,500 metric tonnes of fish in 2008.
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