Lucknow: The Madina hotel in Hussainganj area has been known for ages for its non-vegetarian menu. But on Monday, instead of Nihari and Mutton stew, the hotel was forced to sell daal and chaawal.
This happened because of a strike called by the meat shop owners to protest against the crackdown by municipal authorities against small and medium meat shops.
A rough estimate suggests that over 5000 meat shops will be closed during the strike.
Speaking to News18, Mohammed Rizwan Siddiqi, President of the Lucknow Chicken Committee said, "Our licences are not being renewed and we are harassed by the authorities unnecessarily. Also, new licences are not being issued which is beyond my understanding.”
“We are going on an indefinite strike from today (Monday). Although most of the meat shops in and around the city are already shut down since Friday, we requested all the meat sellers to sell their remaining stock by Friday night and join us in the strike from today,” he added.
His shop in Azad Market in Indira Nagar was shuttered. All the nearby shops too are closed and the cages to keep the birds were all empty.
“We have decided to intensify our strike from today. All shops will remain closed. Fish sellers too have joined us and are extending support to us. The crackdown on slaughterhouses has adversely hit the livelihood of lakhs of people," Mubeen Qureshi, an official of the Lucknow Bakra Gosht Vypar Mandal, said.
The China Gate area near Lucknow Press Club which houses a dozen non-vegetarian selling shops wore a deserted look on Saturday. The shops usually crowded were nearly empty as they were not able to serve food items as per their menu. Owner of famous chain of restaurants, Arshi Jamal expressed his concern over the strike called by meat vendors.
He said, “This strike has hit us badly, there are hardly any customers as we are not able to feed them with kebabs and other non-veg dishes. Let’s hope the situation turns normal soon, else many people associated with the business will have to lose jobs.”
Voicing similar sentiments over strike of meat vendors, owner of a famous restaurant located on Sapru Marg, Shoaib Farooq, said, “Last night, we had a small gathering at our lounge and we had a hard time fulfilling the requirement. We could hardly manage 6 kg of chicken and that too as we were the regular customers. Today, we are just serving vegetarian food as there is no supply of chicken and mutton. This is making a direct impact on our day-to-day business.”
Speaking to reporters in Lucknow on Monday, UP minister SN Singh said the government has issued no such order to shut down shops selling meat or eggs in the state. Singh also urged people not to believe 'rumours' being circulated on the social media.
“Legal slaughterhouses should continue to follow regulations; action is being taken against illegal slaughterhouses only. Those who are on strike will be dealt strictly. Also, I would request authorities not to get over excited and take action only against illegal slaughterhouses. Questions should be asked why the licences were not renewed by Akhilesh Yadav government,” he said.
Answering SN Singh’s allegation, Samajwadi party leader and Yadav’s close aide Sunil Singh ‘Sajan’ said, “The Bhartiya Janta Party is a jumla Party and now they are deflecting from the core agenda of development as they promised. SN Singh should know the fact that municipal corporation issues licence to these meat shops, and for many years the Lucknow Municipal Corporation is under BJP’s belt. The present deputy CM of the state, who was then the mayor of Lucknow should answer these questions on licences and their renewal.”
While the Akbari Gate locality of Old Lucknow area saw a few shops opening up to sell their remaining stock, many others decided not to open. As a repercussion, the prices of vegetables in many vegetable wholesale markets were soaring high on Saturday morning and if the meat shop strike is not taken back quickly then it could soar further up.
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