Shiv Sena teams to ‘urge’ Ggm meat shops to shut down

GURUGRAM: A grouping of 22 Hindu groups has threatened to force shut all meat shops in Gurugram during the festival of Navratri. The Sanyukt Hindu Sangharsh Samiti (SHSS), Gurugram, said it has decided to close down the shops itself since the district administration has failed to act on its requests. Navratri will be celebrated between October 10 and October 18.

Shiv Sena, a member of the Samiti, has written to the district administration that it has formed four teams of 125 members each to visit every meat shop in the city and urge the owner to shut it. “If any shop opens during the festival, we would close it. If anything happens, we will take care of it,” said Gautam Saini, district president of Shiv Sena. Besides the Shiv Sena, Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Hindu Sena are also among the members of the Sanyukt Hindu Sangharsh Samiti.

“Since the district administration did not take any decision on closing the meat shops, we decided to close them down ourselves,” Rajeev Mittal, a member of the Samiti, said.

On Tuesday, 14 meat shops in Sadar Bazar operated with blinders and curtains after members of the Hindu groups asked them to do so ahead of the festival. “We have put up curtains and blinders. But now they have threatened us to shut our shops during Navratri,” said Tahir Qureshi, 55, the leader of the market.

After Qureshi and others approached the police, patrolling has been intensified in the area, but no separate police force was provided till 6 pm on Tuesday. “We have not deployed extra force at the market (near Sadar Bazar), but we have asked the patrolling teams to be more careful,” said Vinod Kumar, SHO, City Police Station.

Sumit Kuhar, deputy commissioner of police (crime), said, “We FARIDABAD: The district administration in Faridabad ordered the closure of all illegal meat shops on Tuesday. Following the order, many such shops were shut down. Officials said they supervised the drive to shut shops in all three zones — Ballabgarh, NIT and Old Faridabad.

Last week, deputy mayor Manmohan Garg had written to the governor demanding that illegal meat shops be closed ahead of Navratri. “The illegally operating meat shops closed will not be allowed to open even after Navratri”, said Atul Kumar, deputy commissioner.

won’t let anyone forcefully close down any meat shop during Navratri. If anyone wants to voluntarily close his shop, then it’s up to him.”

Yashpal Yadav, commissioner, Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG), said no direction has been issued to close meat shops for Navratri.

In March 2017, during Chaitra Navratri, around 300 meat shops were forcibly shut by protesters on both sides of the Delhi-gurgaon Expressway. They were opened following an assurance by the city police. In September 2017, during Navratri, about 500 meat shops were forced to close by a group claiming to be members of Shiv Sena.

Last Wednesday, the Samiti representatives met the Gurugram deputy commissioner and demanded that all meat shops in the city be closed during Navratri.