Traders meet Adityanath amid action against illegal abattoirs

Lucknow, March 31: A meat traders delegation met Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath here on Thursday amid protests over closure of slaughter houses.

Sirajuddin Qureshi, one of the delegates, later said the meeting was held in a positive atmosphere and that they had withdrawn their strike.

All the delegates supported the Chief Minister on the drive launched by the government against illegal abattoirs and said they were in support of the move to weed out illegal meat trading.

Health Minister Siddharth Nath Singh, who briefed the media after the meeting said the Chief Minister assured the delegation that any action against legal slaughter houses will not be tolerated and that action would be initiated against officials indulging in such activity.

No discrimination will be allowed against anyone on the basis of community, caste or religion, the Chief Minister told the delegation.

The Allahabad High Court has also sought a response from the government vis-a-vis the action against slaughter houses in the state and has slated the next hearing on the matter for April 3.

Government records suggest that Uttar Pradesh has more than 375 illegal slaughter houses while the state pollution board says there are 185 abattoirs in the state of which 140 were operating illegally.

The action against shops selling meat and slaughter houses has led to a huge scarcity of meat in the state, leading to protests at many places.

The situation came to such a pass earlier this week that the world famous Tunde Kebab shop in old Lucknow was forced to down shutters, a first in more than 100 years, for lack of buffalo meat.

Rattled at the growing protests in the state against the action, BJP mandarins in New Delhi are learnt to have conveyed to the state government to "soften its stand" and "clarify the position" after which a meeting between Yogi Adityanath and the traders association was arranged.