No kebabs yet: Meat shops hit licence snag

LUCKNOW: The news of restaurants restarting

food delivery

cheered many, especially meat lovers who missed their kebabs and tikkas during lockdown. However, they were disappointed on Thursday since meat dishes were unavailable as there was no supply of chicken and

mutton

.


According to DM

Abhishek Prakash

, any

meat seller

with valid licence can start slaughtering and sale. Divisional commissioner

Mukesh Meshram

said the administration would never stop a meat seller with licence from doing business.

However, licences of shops have not been renewed since 2015 and there is no slaughterhouse in city.

While restaurants have started using packaged, frozen meat, the sellers are worst hit. Before lockdown, they were operating with expired licences.

Chief veterinary officer Arvind Rao said his department, which issues no-objection certificate (NOC) to meat sellers, has not issued any since 2017. It is on the basis of this certificate that licences are issued by Food Safety and Drug Administration (FSDA) to meat sellers. The guidelines permit sale of goat meat and chicken, which are most in demand, after slaughter in the shop itself.

“We did not issue NOC since no one applied as none of them meet requirements and standards for slaughtering animals and selling meat,” said Rao.

Shailendra Singh, an officer at FSDA, confirmed that no meat seller has valid licence, saying, “Only 100 fish sellers and 100 distributors of frozen meat have licence.”

President of Quresh Welfare Foundation Shahbuddin said, “Meat sellers have been doing business on 2015 licence as new ones weren’t issued.” The renewal process dragged on till 2017 when the Yogi Adityanath government banned all illegal slaughterhouses and issued guidelines for new licences, he said. There is no legal slaughterhouse in city and no licensed meat seller since none meets new guidelines.

As per guidelines, every meat shop should have glass windows, freezer, AC, which sellers cannot afford. Imran Qureshi, a member of Lucknow Udyog Vyapar Mandal, said they met DM on Wednesday to discuss reopening of markets but, no one mentioned meat shops.

Qureshi, who also owns a restaurant in Old City, said, “I have been getting calls from customers but, I told them all shops I buy meat from are shut.”

Abdul Hamid Qureshi, president of

Bakra Gosht

Vyapar Mandal, said, “The meat sellers are inching towards starvation. Since it has been their family business for years, they know nothing else.”

“These small traders survive on daily sales. They can make such arrangements only if the government provides a subsidy or loan,” he added.

Meat sellers had filed a petition and the high court had ruled in their favour, asking the government to issue new licences but, the deadlock continues.

Association plans to meet the DM again and request to renew their licences or allow them to operate as earlier.