The weeklong ongoing drive of the Bhopal Municipal Corporation (BMC) against the meat shops in the State capital has united Khateek and Qureshi communities and they have demanded construction of covered market for selling non-vegetarian products.
In an apparent show of unity on Monday the Khateek and Qureshi community representatives demanded that government expedite their demands for setting up hygienic and healthy business environment.
Visibly under pressure from the combination of Khateek and Qureshi members, two main communities involved in the business, mayor Alok Sharma said that ‘crackdown’ would be terminated in the short-term.
Sharma also supported the trader’s demands for expediting in issue of pending meat shop licenses. He also sided with a proposal for increasing ‘closed meat markets’ from 5 to 15. First of the markets would be open near Bharat Talkies and its detailed project report would be released soon, he added.
Under the banner of All India Jamiatul Quresh, a one lakh strong meat trader’s community, BMC Corporator Rafiq Qureshi said, “We are not against strict measures adopted by the BMC. However, the move has also affected traders who were following municipal norms.”
A meat market trader from Anand Nagar Dinesh Khateek said, “We were one of the first meat traders to be affected by the BMC drive. My shop has been shut down for over six months now and the civic body has not entertained pleas for issuing new licence.”
There are an estimated, 450 to 600 meat shops in Bhopal. Around 150 of these shops are owned by the Khateek community.
BMC crackdown against what it terms as illegal shop keepers was also challenged by the two communities. “Some of the meat shops in the city have been relocated twice in the last two decades. Whenever there is any development proposed, meat shop owners are one of the first who are relocated,” said Dinesh Khateek. His shop was shifted from Govindpura to Anand Nagar, in 2003.