Meat shop prohibition around mosques too: FSDA

BAREILLY: One of the 17 points in the guideline issued by the Uttar Pradeshgovernment to meat sellers mentions that such shops are prohibited within a 50-metre radius of religious places and should be at least 100 metres from the main entrance of these places. Food Safety and Drugs Administration (FSDA) department officials have now clarified that a 'religious place' includes a mosque as well. The restriction is despite the fact that caretakers of mosques have not objected to meat shops in the vicinity.

The designated officer of FSDA for Bareilly, Mamta Kumari, said that as a mosque was also a religious place, following the directions issued by the government no one would be given licence to run a meat shop near any mosque. This rule, she said, would be enforced even if mosque caretakers had given permission to the shops to be run in the area.

"Approximately 1,340 persons have submitted the licence fee at government treasury so far to run meat shops while several hundred are still in queue. Among them around 250 applicants have shops near mosques. All of them have brought no-objection letters from the respective caretakers of the mosques. However, unless the government decides otherwise, these people can't be issued licences," Kumari said.

Members of a social service organisation, Aman Committee, have met FSDA officials seeking relaxation of this rule. They have also said that there were several examples from the city of meat shops running in rooms given on rent by mosques.

Responding to them, FSDA officials clarified that any change in the rule could come only from the government and they were authorized only to execute instructions, not make changes in them.

Qadir Ahmed, member of Aman Committee, said, "It is quite unfair to prohibit one from running a meat shop close to a mosque. Like someone running a dairy shop near a temple, it is not considered objectionable to run a meat shop near a mosque. Moreover, if the locals as well as the caretaker of the mosque don't have any objection to the meat shop, there should be no hurdle to issuing licence to the applicant."

Meanwhile, the FSDA officials also clarified that there was no restriction to transporting meat in bulk for weddings. One can purchase as much meat as required from a slaughterhouse after taking prior permission from the department, officials said.