Yogi effect: Illegal abattoir, 15 meat shops shut
A day after two slaughterhouses were sealed by the authorities in Allahabad on Sunday night, hours after BJP leader Yogi Adityanath took over as the Uttar Pradesh chief minister, the UP police in a major crackdown on Tuesday sealed an illegal slaughter house and 15 unlicensed meat shops in the neighbouring city of Ghaziabad on Tuesday.
Two days after assuming power in UP, the BJP government kept on its poll promise by launching a major crackdown on illegal abattoirs in the state. The drive was launched by the district administration under the heavy deployment of police force. Several animal rights groups were complaining about the illegal slaughterhouses in the city for the past several months.
Officials said that illegal slaughterhouses mostly deal with buffalo, though some are also known to kill cow and bullocks, banned in UP under the Uttar Pradesh Prevention of Cow Slaughter Act, 1955.
Atul Kumar, the subdivisional magistrate (sadar) of Ghaziabad, said that a slaughterhouse was sealed in the Kaila Bhatta locality and 10 open meat shops were also closed down there. The drive to shut illegal slaughterhouses is underway in other parts of the city. “We have asked reports from local police station on the number of licensed meat shops in their respective jurisdictions. The unlicensed meat shops will be shut down immediately,” Mr Kumar added.
UP Pollution Control Board officials said that four units were given permission in Ghaziabad, while Hapur has one.
“The four units that took permission are all in Dasna, Ghaziabad. Any activity apart from these four will be illegal,” an official said.
Animal rights activists said that the new government has started taking complaints more seriously. “We are providing complete assistance to the police to identify and shut the unlicensed meat shops in the city. Other than this, there are many meat exporting factories that violate licence norms. We request administration to take swift action,” said an animal rights activist.