Pune, Aug 13 (PTI) Amid the row over a few civic bodies in Maharashtra ordering closure of meat shops and abattoirs on August 15, NCP (SP) MLA Jitendra Awhad on Wednesday claimed that an earlier order only spoke of closure of slaughter houses, but did not ban meat sale.
Speaking to reporters in Solapur, Awhad also asked who gave municipal bodies the right to decide what should a citizen eat and when.
While the Opposition has criticised the order, the ruling BJP has defended it, citing a 1988 state government resolution (GR) empowering civic bodies to impose such restrictions.
Awhad said people belonging to the middle class and the poor generally consume meat on certain days like Sunday, Wednesday and Friday. “Since August 15 is a holiday, people generally wake up at leisure, buy meat and enjoy it together as a family. It is a tradition,” the former minister said.
As the BJP-led government has failed to bring about development, there is an attempt to increase communal disharmony by creating such issues, Awhad alleged.
Municipal corporations of Nagpur, Nashik, Malegaon, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar and Kalyan-Dombivli have issued orders directing closure of slaughterhouses and meat shops on Independence Day. Some of them have said these facilities will remain shut on certain other days, too, in view of Hindu and Jain festivals.
The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) led by Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar has also questioned the directive. PTI SPK KRK
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