Gurugram civic body serves ultimatum to illegal meat shops

Gurugram: Meat shops operating without a licence from the Gurugram civic body are once again staring at the prospect of being forced to shut shop.

Recently, the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) served notices to over 1,000 illegal meat shops and ordered them to apply for a new licence or have their establishments sealed.

A deadline of two days has been provided to these shops, most of which are located in areas including Mohammadpur, Khandsa, Narsinghpur and Jharsa.

Meanwhile, a special wing has been set up by the MCG to conduct surveillance of the shops. Officials of the Corporation have maintained that the objective of taking action against illegal slaughterhouses is to ensure cleanliness and hygienic environment.

"Illegal meat shops have again become a major problem in the city. Taking cognisance of the safety of citizens, the MCG has started issuing notices to illegal abattoirs zone wise," said a senior MCG official.

"The objective of having licensed slaughterhouses is to ensure that cleanliness and sanitation is maintained. Today, the lack of licensed slaughterhouses in the city has resulted in lot of health and sanitation issues.

"Most of the licensed slaughterhouses dump the carcasses at the vacant sites in the city and make the city filthier. There are also lot of health hazards in the process being adopted at these slaughterhouses," he further added.

The warning by the civic body comes after Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, in a recent district grievance redressal programme, affirmed that no licenses will be issued to meat shops situated in residential areas.

Most small time meat shop owners had earlier shared their grievances and highlighted that the strict licensing system of the Haryana government has resulted in them carrying out their business in extremely difficult conditions.

They highlighted that the civic body had promised that there would be a slaughterhouse officially set up by the Corporation, but no work has started for the same.

There have been complaints that the civic body has set very tough conditions for obtaining a licence, as a result of which only hundreds of shops have the authority to function.