Uttar Pradesh meat sellers go on indefinite strike; crackdown only against illegal slaughterhouses, says government

Lucknow/New Delhi: Even as thousands of meat sellers in Uttar Pradesh shut shops for an indefinite period from Monday, the BJP-led government clarified that the crackdown was directed only against illegal slaughterhouses.

"The move aims to ensure health safety of the people by ensuring safe and clean meat to them", state Cabinet minister Shrikant Sharma said.

"Our government is going by the rule book and following the orders of Supreme Court and National Green Tribunal. The action is against only illegal slaughter houses. As far as meat shop owners are concerned, I would suggest that rather than go on strike, it's better that they follow the rules," Sharma added, as per PTI.

On the other hand, UP Health Minister Siddharth Nath Singh said in state capital Lucknow that those who have licences need not worry, and urged civil and police officials "not to be overexcited" while imposing the ban, which was promised by the BJP in its state election manifesto.

The BJP had vowed to shut down all illegal slaughterhouses and place curbs on all mechanical abattoirs in the state.

The minister said Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, in line with the party poll manifesto, had sought action "only against illegal slaughterhouses".

"Abattoirs operating legally will not be touched," he stressed.

Meat sellers, especially mutton vendors, today kept their shops closed on the first day of their indefinite strike against the statewide crackdown on illegal and mechanised slaughter houses.

They alleged that police were raiding the shops and forcing the closure of their establishments despite having valid licences.

They said the ban on slaughterhouses has caused a shortage in meat supply across the state, as thousands of meat sellers have been forced to shut their shops in an air of uncertainty over the state government policy.

"We have decided to intensify our strike. All (meat) shops will remain closed. The crackdown on slaughterhouses has adversely hit the livelihood of lakhs of people," Mubeen Qureshi of the Lucknow Bakra Gosht Vypar Mandal told reporters.

In Noida, the national capital's suburb in UP, meat shops were open but many sellers said their daily income has fallen nearly by half due to the crackdown on slaughterhouses.

"I have sold only half of (meat) what I would sell normally," Chand Qureshi, a meat seller in Shahberi market of Noida Extension, told IANS.

He said meat shops at some other places like in Ghaziabad were asked to put up curtains on shop fronts.

In Delhi, the issue was raised in Parliament by AIMIM President and Lok Sabha member Asaduddin Owaisi, who asked the state government to give time to illegal abattoirs for regularisation instead of just recklessly closing them down.

Replying to a related question from Owaisi, Union Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said, "What is being done in Uttar Pradesh is about illegal slaughterhouses. I think even the honourable member (Owaisi) would not want illegal slaughterhouses to function. There cannot be a difference of opinion here."

The Hyderabad MP also raised the issue of the decrease in the export of buffalo meat, which is mostly supplied from UP that houses 38 of the 72 government-approved abattoirs across the country.

There are no records of illegal slaughterhouses available officially. However, according to industry insiders, there could be an estimated 140 abattoirs and over 50,000 meat shops that don't have permission to operate.

(With Agency inputs)