Illegal meat shops in Gurugram take a hit

Hundreds of shops in city forced to down shutters as ban takes effect on Tuesday

DE17 meat

Several hundred meat shops running without licences in Gurugram closed their shutters on Tuesday, a day after Haryana government's order banning illegal sale and slaughter of animals came into force. As per official estimates, there are around 600 meat shops and slaughter houses running in the city without licences.

New applications

Medical officer, Municipal Corporation of Gurugram, Ashish Singla said that the civic body had received 50 applications so far seeking licences for running of meat shops.

Ishtiaq Qureshi, who runs Salman Meat Shop in Jama Masjid area, said the livelihood of small meat shop owners was at stake in view of the new diktat of the Haryana Government. “The government has released a list of 20-odd conditions to be met to procure the licence for running a meat shop in the State. We are poor meat sellers earning a meagre ₹500-1,000 per day and cannot afford to meet the conditions put forward by the government which even include buying a deep freezer. We cannot afford to spend ₹2.5-3 lakh to meet the licence conditions,” said Mr. Qureshi. He claimed that there were around a dozen meat and chicken shops in the market and all of them were shut.

‘No complaints yet’

Akhtar, who also owns a meat shop in this area, said the market was over five decades old and those staying in the neighbourhood had no complaints, but the government had now come up with a new policy to deprive them of their livelihood. “We are not left with any option now but to ply cycle-rickshaw,” said Mr. Akhtar.

The neighbouring Jaikampura market also wore a deserted look with all shops remaining closed on Tuesday. Chhotu, who works at Delhi Chicken Shop in the area, said the new policy had banned slaughtering of animals at shops but there was no slaughter house in the region. “Some prominent meat sellers in the market procure it from Gazipur, but many small-time meat sellers slaughter animals at the shop itself. Now it is completely banned, making it difficult for them to survive,” said Chhotu, adding that those working at these shops now faced the danger of losing their jobs.