Meat, liquor shops shut down near Kashi temple

VARANASI: Teams of

Varanasi Municipal Corporation

(VMC) officials, led by the city veterinary officer, launched a drive on Friday to execute a decision taken by VMC House for the closure of 26 shops selling

non-vegetarian food

in the vicinity of

Kashi Vishwanath temple

in Varanasi. The drive also covered

Muslim-dominated localities

and markets of

Naisadak

and Beniabagh areas.

Talking to TOI after launching the drive, Kashi mayor

Ashok Tiwari

said, "The drive has been started to make a 2-km area in radius of

KV temple

free of shops selling non-veg food and liquor and it will continue."
Veterinary officer Dr Ajay Pratap Singh said that in view of the Jan 18 decision of the VMC House, which barred meat and liquor shops from functioning in a 2-km radius of the KVT, basic exercises like inspection of shops to check their documents have been started. During this drive, it was found that 26 owners of the shops selling chicken and mutton had not taken a no-objection certificate from food safety and drug administration and also VMC to run their shops, he said. Notices had been served to the same shop owners a week ago to close their shops voluntarily, Dr Singh added.
However, when the markets were checked again on Friday, it was found that none of those shop owners had complied with the order. Following this, a team led by Dr Singh raided the same shops on Friday and ensured their closure. The VMC team also pasted notices on the shops.

The VMC team also faced protests by some owners who claimed that their shops were decades old and shifting to new places would badly harm their trade. However, their request was turned down by the VMC team.
The prohibition on the meat and liquor shops near the temple was proposed by corporator of the Adivishveshwar ward, Indresh Kumar Singh, under Section 91 (2) of the Municipal Corporation Act 1959.
During a discussion on the same proposal in the VMC House, the corporators had mentioned that there are no meat and liquor shops within a radius of two to five km in temple towns like Ayodhya, Mathura and Haridwar. The proposal had been passed unanimously.