Noida will not give nod for meat shops in slums

The Noida authority has written to the district magistrate to resolve the issue at their level

A group of meat sellers on Monday met Noida authority’s deputy chief executive officer (DCEO) Saumya Srivastava seeking his help in obtaining licences for meat shops in slum areas.

Meat sellers can only be issued licences if the shops are in areas where municipal services are provided. (Sunil Ghosh/HT File Photo)

As per norms, the food safety and drug administration (FSDA) can issue a licence only if the applicant produces before them all required documents, including a no-objection certificate (NOC) from the Noida authority.

However, the authority made it clear to the meat sellers that it will only issue NOC for a shop if it fulfils all requirements and is located on land where municipal services are provided.

“We can issue NOC to a shop if it is located in a sector or a village. We will not be able to issue NOC for a meat shop located in a slum because we do not provide municipal services there,” said the DCEO.

Following the meat sellers’ demand, the authority has written to the Gautam Budh Nagar district magistrate (DM) regarding the issue.

“I have written to the district administration and also spoken to the additional DM. We have requested them to deal with licence applications in slums at their own level on the basis of merits or demerits of the applications. The Noida authority will not issue NOCs, so the administration will exercise its powers and take a call as per law,” said Srivastava.

Among the norms set by the authority for an NOC, the shop will have to be located 100 metres from a place of worship, 50 metres from a residential area and have access to municipal facilities.

“We will issue NOC for five shops in a village if the population is less than 4,000 and 10 shops if the population is more than that. In urban areas, licence will be issued to a meat shop only if it was originally allotted for this purpose and is located in a commercial area,” said Raghunandan Singh Yadav, senior project engineer of the Noida authority.