Delhi meat shop to be located 150 metres away from religious places

Guwahati: In a recent order issued by South Delhi Municipal Corporation’s (SDMC) standing committee, a new rule will have to be obeyed by the Delhi meat shops from now on. As per the order, no meat shop can be based within a distance of 150 metres from any religious place and this is mandatory in case of the religious places of any religion.

In fact, in addition to maintaining a distance of 150 metres, a meat seller will also have to obtain a meat shop license to open a meat-selling shop. As the new order of 150 metres distance is not being implemented immediately, the civic agency is giving licenses to the meat shops which are based at a distance of 100m from religious places.

The meat sellers who are applying newly for opening a new shop will have to follow the criteria of 150 metres distance from religious shrines as then only they will be considered as eligible to obtain the license but for that, the policy will have to pass by the house.

According to the policy, “Considering the sentiments of people visiting religious places, the minimum distance between the meat shop and a temple/gurudwara/religious place/cremation ground should be at least 150 metres.”

However, there too is a certain twist in this new order for the meat shops. Although the rules are the same for all religious places, but there will be little change in the guidelines which will depend on the type of the religious place and the type of meat being sold in the shops. If it is a mosque, which is a religious place for the Muslims, there is no mandatory distance marking for the beef, mutton or chicken shops. But the pork shops particularly will have to be beyond a distance of 150 metres. Other meat sellers like mutton/chicken/fish and buffalo meat shops can obtain a license even if they are situated less than 100 metres from a mosque.

Moreover, there will be a hike in the charges for meat shop license as well. The cost for new licenses will increase from Rs 5,000 to Rs 7,000 and the annual renewal fee will rise from Rs 3,000 to Rs 5,000. On the other hand, if anybody is caught using fraudulent means to obtain a license, he will be charged with a fine of Rs 1 lakh.

Also read: Meat shops to down shutters from Oct 15