Hotels, restaurants in Mumbai can serve meat during ban period

This year those looking to get their fix of nonvegetarian food during the fourday ban on meat sales in Mumbai will either have to stock up in advance or head to hotels or restaurants serving meat This is because unlike last year the ban doesnrsquot just prohibit the slaughter of animals but also restricts the sale of meat on four days September 10 13 17 18 during the Jain fasting period of ParyushanAlso Read One mans meat shouldnt be anothers poisonCitizens will not be able to buy meat from butchers or even from frozen food counters at supermarkets this year File picSo while citizens could buy frozen meat from supermarkets last year this year even stores will have to lock their meat freezers during the ban period There is no restriction on stocking up beforehand though Hotels and restaurants can also continue to serve meat during the ban periodRead Story Ban on meat sale in Mumbai stokes controversyldquoOur hotels and restaurants that serve nonvegetarian food will continue to do so The ban will not affect our business much as it is not being imposed for four days at a stretchrdquo said Niranjan Shetty chairman of the BMC wing of AHAR Indian Hotel And Restaurant Association and also BJP spokesperson for the cityThere is also no restriction on the sale of fish The BJP continues to draw flak from all quarters on this issue especially since this yearrsquos ban ndash unlike last yearrsquos ndash covers not just the slaughter of animals but also the sale of meat Samajwadi Partyrsquos Rais Shaikh wrote to BMC commissioner Ajoy Mehta asking him to revoke the nosale policyldquoLast year the then commissioner Sitaram Kunte had also proposed a nosale clause in addition to the ban on slaughter but he removed it after we objected This year commissioner Mehta has on his own added the same clause banning the sale of meat This year too we will get it removedWe have asked him to take back this arbitrary decision and apologise to the public of Mumbairdquo said Shaikh He also pointed out that there was no policy for the implementation of the ban and questioned what the authorities intended to do if someone was found selling meat during the four daysThe fourday ban includes a twoday restriction imposed by the state along with another two days added by the BMC The MiraBhayander Municipal Corporation on Friday also passed BJPrsquos proposal to impose an eightday ban lsquoBan on meat sale Shiv Sena to crack down on corporators in MiraBhayanderrsquo midday September 8ldquoSale of meat isnrsquot allowed so BMCrun slaughter houses will be shutrdquo said a senior officer from BMC Even the Congress has taken the BJP to task over the ban in Mumbai and MiraBhayander Sanjay Nirupam the city unit president of Congress said ldquoWe opposed the ban that has been brought in by the BJP While we respect the Jain community we do not think it is right to curb someonersquos freedom to decide what to eatrdquolsquoCongress did itrsquoHowever the BJP has pointed out that the ban had first been introduced by Congress itself Yesterday BJPrsquos group leader in the BMC Manoj Kotak showed this reporter a document dated September 2004 which ordered the BMC to shut slaughter houses for two daysRead Also NCP defends Maharashtra Governments meat ban decisionldquoThe letter came from Mantalaya and it was the Congress government ruling the state then So itrsquos the Congress which brought this ban into effect but they are now blaming us The Congress is trying to play a political game over this issuerdquo said Kotak