Noida meat shops illegal: Traders protest, demand review of decision

The crackdown on illegal meat shops in state triggered protest in Noida on Thursday after meat traders gathered inside the office premises of city magistrate in Sector 19 and demanded a relaxation.

Following the declaration that all meat shops in Gautam Budh Nagar are illegal, over 100 meat traders from Noida gathered at the office of the city magistrate in Sector 19 and demanded a review of the decision.

Backed by the Centre of India Trade Unions (CITU), over a hundred traders protested closure of meat shops in Noida on Thursday. (Sunil Ghosh/HT Photo)

Officials of the food safety and drug administration (FSDA) department had stated that all meat shops in Gautam Budh Nagar district are running illegally as shop owners had not procured a licence.

The crackdown on illegal meat shops has triggered statewide protests.

Backed by the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU), the traders said that the recent siege has affected the livelihood of thousands. Traders said that it is mandatory for the government to provide them adequate time to complete the necessary formalities so that their livelihood is not affected. They said that the police is acting aggressively without realising the impact (of the crackdown) on trade.

The traders, during their one-hour protest, asked the administration to establish a slaughterhouse in Noida and grant permission to traders for selling meat in open markets.

“We have been involved in this trade for decades and know no other means to feed our families. We are starving since the closure. People like me, who used to sell meat in open markets, have no other alternative means of survival. There is no policy in this regard and we have not been informed how to resume our trade. Our main demand is for permission to resume our business,” Shakeel Qureshi, a meat trader, said.

To close the illegal shops, the police is taking Suo moto cognizance of illegal meat shops in Noida and Greater Noida. Recently, more than two dozen shops selling meat were sealed by the police.

Mobeen Qureshi, who runs a meat shop in Sector 12, said, “It is unfortunate that the administration has no vision or policy regarding the trade. Dukanein band karwa di agar unhe dubara kaise chalana hai wo unko pata nahi (they have shut the shops, but don’t have idea how to regularize them).”