Meat shop owners hold protest in Gurugram

Gurugram: The strict stance taken by the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) has not gone well with the meat shop owners. On Thursday, a group of shop owners held protests against stringent conditions put by the MCG for the licence. Most of the small-time meat shop owners have shared their grievances earlier and highlighted that strict licensing system by the government has resulted in an extremely difficult condition for them to carry out their business. They have highlighted that the civic body's promise that a house will be set up by it for the meat shops has yet not taken off.

There have been 24 shops that have already been sealed by the Gurugram civic body and over 1,000 shops have been served ultimatum to apply for licence or face the risk of being closed. Officially, there are 129 shops in Gurugram that have the licence to operate. The MCG officials have maintained that the main objective of taking action against the 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 the citizens, the MCG has started issuing notices to illegal abattoirs zone wise," said a senior MCG official.

"The main objective of licensed meat slaughterhouse is to ensure that there is cleanliness and sanitation which is maintained. Today, the lack of licensed slaughterhouses in the city has resulted in a lot of health and sanitation issues. Most of the licensed slaughter houses dump the carcasses at the vacant sites in the city and make the city dirty. 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 Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar affirmed categorically in a recent district grievance redressal programme that no licenses will be issued to the meat shop houses that are situated in the residential areas.