UP: Meat sellers end strike against crackdown on abattoirs

Lucknow: The strike by meat sellers in Uttar Pradesh against crackdown on illegal slaughter houses has been called off.

Office bearer of Lucknow Bakra Gosht Vyapar Mandal Mubeen Qureshi said, "The Uttar Pradesh government assured us that it would open the Maulviganj slaughter house here and at the same time build another slaughter house."

Showering praises on Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, he said, "The state government listened to our views and grievances with an open mind. We are opening our shops on Sunday."

He also said that the government has assured the mutton sellers that their licences would be renewed in the framework of law.

"We are expecting to get renewed licences in the next 15-20 days," he said.

Endorsing the state government's directive to ensure cleanliness at shops, Qureshi said the shopkeepers have been told to maintain hygiene which all of them would adhere to. The strike by the meat sellers lasted for nearly five days.

Secretary of All India Jamait ul Quresh Ashfaq Qureshi said that chances that the indefinite strike, which began on Monday, will end soon gained ground after representatives of the agitating meat-sellers and exporters met Adityanath a few days ago.

Though the strike had been going on for sometime now, the impact was not felt much in view of 'Navaratra', during which people in north India generally abstain from consuming non-vegetarian food.

Shops selling fish, egg and chicken were open in the state capital but there were not many buyers.

Representatives of agitating meat-sellers and exporters had earlier met the state Health minister Siddharth Nath Singh on Tuesday to arrive at a reconciliation.

The office-bearers of their associations had submitted a memorandum to the state government and wanted to meet the chief minister with their demands which included allowing them to operate the slaughter houses as their closure was affecting their livelihood.