Shut Deonar abattoir for 8 days for Ganpati, Paryushan, says BJP

MUMBAI: Despite the flak it received last year, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has once again demanded the city abattoir at Deonar remain shut not just during

MUMBAI: Despite the flak it received last year, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has once again demanded the city abattoir at Deonar remain shut not just during Paryushan Parv — a fasting period observed by the Jain community — but also during Ganesh festival — for four days each.

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Last year, the party demanded closing the abattoir for eight days. Most of the meat consumed in Mumbai comes from the abattoir.

Paryushan Parv starts from August 29 and ends on September 6. The Ganesh festival begins on September 5.

BJP MLA Raj Purohit has written to civic chief Ajoy Mehta stating the demands.

Last year, a major controversy broke out between the BJP and its alliance partner, the Shiv Sena, in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) – the former pushed for shutting slaughter houses for eight days.

Before that, the abattoir would be shut for four days – two days as per the civic body’s resolution and two days as per the state’s GR.

Following the BJP’s demand of eight days, however, an irked Sena and other Opposition parties forced the cancellation of the civic body’s resolution, which allowed shutting Deonar abattoir only for two days. Last year, it was Purohit and another BJP MLA Atul Bhatkhalkar who had met the civic chief demanding the eight-day ban.

The Sena said it will not support the demand this year either.

Trushna Vishwasrao, leader of the House and Sena corporator, said, “According to the state’s resolution, the slaughter houses will be shut for two days. But we will not allow adding more days. There has been no practice of shutting abattoirs during Ganeshotsav except on the first day.”

Sandeep Deshpande, group leader of Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), said, “The civic administration should not be fulfilling the agenda of some political party trying to rope in Marathi voters.”

As of now, the civic administration has decided to stick to the state government directives issued in 2004. It issued a circular saying the Deonar abattoir will be shut for two days on August 29 — the first day of Paryushan Parv — and September 5 – the first day of Ganeshotsav. The sale of meat in municipal markets will also be banned according to the state government’s resolution (GR) of 2004 for these two days, said civic officials.

The issue last year saw the BJP getting isolated as the Sena and opposition parties had strongly objected to its proposal since a majority of the city’s population, especially Maharashtrians are non-vegetarians. With the 2017 civic elections barely six months away, the BJP does not want to antagonise a majority community.

“We have not demanded a meat ban. We are only asking for shutting of slaughter houses for four days of Paryushan and four days of Ganeshotsav. I have written to the civic chief to implement my demand and respect the Jain community’s sentiments,” said Purohit.

Meanwhile, Yogesh Shetye, general manager of the Deonar abattoir, said, “The abattoir will be shut for two days during Paryushan Parv unlike previous years when it was shut for four days.”