Residents of Turkmen provinces barred from importing meat for sale to capital

AKIPRESS.COM - The residents of Serkhetabat district used to make a living by selling meat and cattle in Ashgabat, which had been raised in their farms, Chronicles of Turkmenistan reports.
Starting from 20 October police officers have been detaining people on the trains who are importing beef or lamb to the capital. Meat is confiscated and vendors are threatened with fines. The local media report that rural inhabitants were informed that the ban on the import of meat to Ashgabat by private vendors had been introduced.
"No explanations were provided to us. We were just informed that it is no longer allowed to bring meat into the capital. It is rumoured that it is related to a sharp increase in the incidence of disease among cattle. Yet, we do not sell meat ourselves. We hand over the meat to private entrepreneurs for further processing and sale. They are supposed to inspect the quality of meat," one of the meat sellers said.
"It is easier to impose bans rather than organize public health control. Nobody is concerned about us, who makes a living in this business in an attempt to make ends meet," said resident of Sandykachi district.