No meat stall was supposed to transact business on Sunday (April, 9) as it was a dry and no meat day announced by the State government on the occasion of Mahavir Jayanthi.
As a mark of paying respect to Lord Mahavir, who propagated non-violence and truth, the Governments observe this day as a dry day similar to Gandhi Jayanthi. As per the order, no one should sell meat of any type such as mutton, chicken or fish. Similarly, the Collectors of various districts had issued order to close TASMAC run liquor shops on Sunday.
Though most of the TASMAC shops remained closed on Sunday, several meat shops transacted business as usual.
A visit to local markets in various parts of the city revealed that more than 70% of meat shops were doing brisk business, suggesting scant regard for the government order.
Though there were instances of meat shops doing business in discreet manner in the past on dry days, but on Sunday several traders were seen flouting the order in a brazen way. Though meat stalls function in almost all parts of the city, Bheema Nagar, Woraiyur, Anna statue and K. K. Nagar are among the known centres for meat stalls. Except a few, most of them remained open on Sunday.
Similarly, several shops in the meat and fish markets at Gandhi Market, Thennur, Tollgate and others also functioned as usual. “Being a Sunday, we would transact brisk business due to huge demand. Hence, we have opened shops as usual,” said a meat trader in Bheema Nagar. “All meat markets in the city functioned as usual. However, volume of sales was not up to the level as a section of retail traders had preferred to declare holiday on Sunday,” said a wholesale fish trader in Thennur.
A senior officer of the Tiruchi Corporation said that besides announcement on newspapers, meat traders were informed of government order. Action taken report on defaulters would be collected from the field officials, he added.
