Meat exporters meet minister, protest closure of ‘legal’ abattoirs

LUCKNOW: Members of All India Meat and Livestock Exporters’ Association , India Islamic Cultural Centre and some influential slaughter house owners flew down to Lucknow from Delhi on Tuesday to share their concerns with the government over the closure of abattoirs and meat shops in the state.

The delegation met UP minister Siddharth Nath Singh, who made it clear that there won’t be any change in government policy on closure of all illegal slaughter houses; a line that chief minister Yogi Adityanath further ratified during his meeting with Singh.

“We told them that we are ready to listen to them with an open mind but any business that is illegal won’t be allowed. There is absolutely no going back on this. Many of them said that they were willing to work within the legal set-up and to them we said that we would be willing to talk to them,” Singh told HT. Squadron leader (retd) DB Sabharwal, secretary general of AIMLEA said they told Singh of the 42 abattoirs that mainly cater to exports the government had closed down nine. “These have been closed not because they were illegal but because they are awaiting necessary clearances that they had applied for long back. You can’t shut them just like that. We too are against illegal slaughterhouses but then ours aren’t illegal,” Sabharwal told HT.

Sirajuddin Qureshi, president of India Islamic Cultural Centre held a meeting with local meat and slaughter house owners before flying to Delhi.

Meanwhile, there are indications that a section of meat shop sellers and prominent non-vegetarian eateries like Tundey Kebabi might open from Wednesday.

“Let’s see, we are considering opening from tomorrow. If buffalo meat isn’t available we would sell chicken kebabs,” said Mohammad Usman, grandson of Haji Murad Ali.