Ghaziabad mayor junks day-old order asking meat shops to shut on Navratri
On Friday, the Ghaziabad municipal corporation issued an order, signed by Sharma, which ordered all meat shops in the city to stay shut from April 2 to 10 in light of the nine-day Hindu festival of Chaitra Navratri.
A day after ordering meat shops in Ghaziabad to close during Navratri, mayor Asha Sharma issued an amendment on Saturday that said stores should follow the Uttar Pradesh government’s directives in the matter.
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According to the state government’s orders, meat shops should be situated beyond a 50-metre radius of religious places and no slaughter of animals should take place inside the shop. The directives also say that curtains/tinted glass should be used to ensure that meat is not visible to the public.
To be sure, officials said these directives are applicable to meat shops throughout the year and not just for a specific period.
On Friday, the Ghaziabad municipal corporation issued an order, signed by Sharma, which ordered all meat shops in the city to stay shut from April 2 to 10 in light of the nine-day Hindu festival of Navratri.
“It is hereby informed that in view of the festival of Navratri, the municipal corporation should ensure the cleanliness of your allotted areas as well as temples in the city and ensure that all meat shops in the city shall be closed for the coming 9 days,” said the order.
However, on Saturday, the mayor issued a correction.
“The order is being amended and directives given by the Uttar Pradesh government should be followed in this regard,” said her letter.
“The municipal corporation received a letter from the mayor on April 1 which directed that all meat shops in the city be closed and that the order be implemented with immediate effect. Hence, in reference to this letter, an official order was issued by the corporation on the same day,” said Mayank Tanwar, municipal commissioner, Ghaziabad Municipal Corporation.
He added that the order was suspended on Saturday after the mayor issued a clarification.
When asked, mayor Asha Sharma said that her previous letter on Friday was “misunderstood”.
“I never said that all meat shops in the city should be closed during Navratri. My intention was to ensure that cleanliness is maintained in and around temples and hence meat shops around the temples should be shut. However, I understand why some confusion may have been there because of this order and hence the I have issued a correction in the matter,” said Sharma.
