The bill banning the cow slaughter in Maharashtra, pending for the last several years, received the President's assent, the state finance minister Sudhir Mungantiwar said on Monday.

"I am very happy that the President finally gave his assent. We have been trying hard from the last several years to get the bill passed into a law. It not only ensures that animals are not killed, but would also stabilise the agricultural situation. Prevention of the killing of animals will increase the productivity of farms...Even healthy animals were being killed for money, but it will stop now," Mungantiwar said.

Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis too expressed happiness over President Pranab Mukherjee's decision to give assent to the bill.

"Thanks a lot honourable President sir for the assent on Maharashtra Animal Preservation Bill. Our dream of ban on cow-slaughter becomes reality now," Fadnavis said on Twitter.

A delegation of seven state BJP MPs led by Kirit Somaiya, (MP from Mumbai North) had met the President in New Delhi recently and submitted a memorandum seeking assent to the bill.

The memorandum said that the Maharashtra Animal Preservation (Amendment) Bill, 1995, passed during the previous Shiv Sena-BJP regime, was pending for approval for 19 years.

The punishment for the sale of beef or possession of it could be 5 years imprisonment with an additional fine of Rs 10,000.