THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The nationwide campaign against beef has started to reflect in the state with many city hotels removing beef dishes from their menu.
The price of beef has gone up in the market prompting hotel owners to skip the dishes. Currently, beef costs around Rs 300 to Rs 350 per kg in the state capital. Mr Rajeswaran Nair, manager of Indian Coffee House outlet at Statue, said that they had stopped serving beef over a month back.
“Earlier, the cost of beef was around Rs 200 per kg, but now the price has gone up to Rs 350. We cannot jack up the rates of the dish all of a sudden. So we stopped serving beef. The majority of coffee house outlets in the state don’t serve beef,” he said.
“The government is also insisting on value-added tax on the meat we purchase which adds on to the cost,” he added.
The Kerala Cattle and Meat Merchants' Welfare Association claimed that the price rise was due to high transportation cost.
“The government is imposing rules and there is restriction in transportation of cattle to the state. We cannot transport more than 8 to 10 cattle in a truck and transportation cost would come around Rs 3 lakh. Also the price of cattle has gone up in other states,” said Mr M.K. Ummer, patron of the association.
