Mumbai: “If people don’t get cow beef to eat, they may switch over to eating goat or chicken which is available in abundance,” said finance minister Sudhir Mungantiwar, who has been pursuing the ban on cow slaughter in the state since the bill was first passed 20 years ago in the state legislature.

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A day after the President gave his nod to the bill Mungantiwar told mid-day on Tuesday that some 3.5 lakh bulls and bullocks (including calves) were being slaughtered in the state. “This large scale killing would create a shortage of animal husbandry for the farmers, who rely heavily on bullocks for farm-related work. This isn’t any party-specific agenda because many Congress-led states too have cow slaughter ban in place. And many Congress leaders had demanded the ban,” said the BJP minister.