Gurugram: A Hindu outfit Friday demanded no new licences should be issued by the Gurugram municipal corporation to set up new meat shops in the city.
The Hindu Sangharsh Samiti submitted a memorandum addressed to Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar demanding that the civic authorities should abandon the process to issue any such licence.
Claiming that Khattar himself had promised that no fresh licence would be issued for meat sale in the “holy” city of Gurugram as it is home to the Sheetla Mata Shrine, the Samiti demanded all 126 applications seeking fresh licences be trashed.
The Samiti has threatened protests in case the civic agency goes ahead with the process.
In its memorandum addressed to the chief minister, the Samiti said, “It was in October 2017 that you promised that no fresh meat sale licences will be issued in respect of Sheetla Mata Temple and Guru Dronacharya. We want this application process cancelled. In addition, all current meat shops should be moved out of 10 km perimeter of the Sheetla Mata temple, and existing illegal shops closed.”
Gurugram has 119 licenced meat shops and over 1,500 unregistered ones. Fresh licences have not been issued for years.
“When there are norms for other holy cities why should Gurugram be any different,” the Samiti asked.
Saying that the Sheetla Mata temple is a revered shrine for the people of Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan, the Samiti demanded the area around it should be meat-free.
“A separate market or area should be earmarked for registered legal sale, and illegal shops should be shut. This is non-negotiable and the CM himself had announced it. We will not accept this (issuance of licences) lying down,” said Mahaveer Bhardwaj, chairman of Sanyukt Hindu Sangharsh Samiti.
