Most meat shops shut, violators let off with warning

Around 70 teams of the MCG and around 300 Gurugram police personnel scanned the city for open meat shops, officials said, and upon finding open ones near Sadar Bazar, alerted senior officials.

Officials said that 120 of the 129 meat shops remained closed during checks on Tuesday, as the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) started to enforce the House decision to shut meat shops on Tuesdays.

Delhi Police personnel at work amid a large crowd of shoppers at Sadar Bazar ahead of the upcoming festivities in New Delhi. (Vipin Kumar/HT PHOTO)

“Almost all the licensed meat shops operating in the city were found to be closed during our inspections. There were nine such shops which were found to be open, all in areas located in the vicinity of Sadar Bazar. Owners of such shops were let off with a warning this time and their shops were closed immediately. From next week, any violator will be immediately penalised,” said Ashish Singla, chief medical officer (CMO), MCG, the official responsible for issuing licences and penalties to meat shops in the city and ensuring norms compliance.

Around 70 teams of the MCG and around 300 Gurugram police personnel scanned the city for open meat shops, officials said, and upon finding open ones near Sadar Bazar, alerted senior officials.

According to MCG officials, the owners of all nine open meat shops were aware of the MCG’s direction. However, they had opened their shops hoping there would be no spot check or penalties.

During an MCG House meeting on March 18, the civic body decided to close meat shops on Tuesdays after two councillors had floated the proposal citing religious sentiments. Despite the MCG commissioner Vinay Pratap Singh stating that eating meat is a “personal choice” and the House should consider this before coming to a decision, the MCG approved the proposal as per the provisions of the Haryana Municipal Corporation by-laws, 2008, which permits the shutdown of meat shops on one day of the week.

During last week’s House meeting, MCG officials also approved a proposal for increasing the fines for meat shop violations by 10 times, from ₹500 to ₹5,000 and permanently sealing a meat shop, if the owner commits three violations. MCG officials said that before next Tuesday, they will be issuing a notification regarding the change in the fine amount and then start sealing meat shops.

Usha Kundu, the assistant commissioner of police (headquarters), Gurugram, said that around 300 personnel were deputed for the task, but did not find any open meat shop.

“Our teams carried out inspections till the afternoon, especially in areas such as Jacobpura, Khandsa, Chakkarpur, and Badshahpur that have a sizeable number of meat shops. However, no meat shop was found to be operational. We also did not receive any receive report of any ruckus or complaints on the matter,” said Kundu.

The MCG and Gurugram police were operating independently on the matter.

“Across the city, almost all the meat shop owners complied with the MCG’s direction. The MCG needs to realise that more than 80% of the city’s meat shops are owned by local businessmen who operate their shops on a low scale. Their income and survival depend on the daily sale of meat. On Tuesdays, they had a sizeable amount of business and the MCG’s direction has put them under immense financial duress,” said Pritam Bhagat, president, Jacobpura meat shops’ association, adding that such small-scale owners do not have the wealth or the expertise to pursue the matter legally against the MCG.

“I complied with the direction of the MCG, as I did not want me or my employees to face any trouble. Our business has been hit by the coronavirus and more recently, by bird flu. The MCG’s direction has only made things worse for us,” said Aftab Khan, a meat shop owner in Sector 12.

MCG officials also clarified that only physical shops will remain closed while online meat delivery portals can continue to operate. On Tuesdays, such portals were found to be operational.