LUCKNOW: The city of Nawabs, known for its mouthwatering Awadhi delicacies, was forced to turn vegetarian on Saturday when over 5,000 shops selling mutton and chicken went on strike protesting the Yogi government's crackdown on unlicensed abattoirs and meat outlets. Famous eateries of Lucknow like Tunday's and Mubeen's showed solidarity by downing their shutters.The strike is now threatening to spread with Meat Murga Vyapar Kalyan Samiti, UP giving a call for a statewide strike from Sunday. Murga Vypar Mandal of Kanpur has already announced it will join the strike from Sunday.In Noida and Ghaziabad, roadside meat shops, including those selling chicken, have disappeared overnight. However, the licenced shops have decided not to join the strike. But even among operators in these shops, there is wariness about the current situation, leading to a general downturn in business.In Bareilly, while 60-odd licensed mutton shops were open on Friday, roadside outlets remained closed fearing a crackdown.In Agra, mutton supply was very low while chicken was available.In the state capital, Lucknow Murga Mandi Samiti (LMMS) and MMVKS held a meeting in the morning and decided to shut the supply. LMMS represents more than 50 wholesalers who supply chicken to about 5,000 retailers, besides restaurants, hotels and small food joints in the city. MMVKS represents about 600 dealers.LMMS representative Sanjay Saxena said applications for licences of many dealers were gathering dust at Lucknow Municipal Corporation (LMC) since 2010. "We were forced to work without licence because LMC is neither issuing fresh licences nor renewing old ones for three years. Our legal business turned illegal because of apathy of the authorities and now the crackdown has hit our livelihood," said Saxena.Refuting the allegations, LMC veterinary officer AK Rao said, "Of all 602 licences, 340 have been renewed and approximately 130 cancelled because they were flouting the Supreme Court guidelines, according to which no butcher shop should be adjacent to religious places and educational institutions. The rest were for shops that sell buffalo meat. We cannot issue a licence to them because there is no legitimate slaughterhouse in the city. So, as of now, there is no pendency." MMVKS chief said there should be a designated market for meat sellers outside the city limits. "The government must give us place where it is legally correct. We are ready to hire or buy the premises so that our business is not affected," added Qureshi.Other demands of the association include setting up of a modern 'murga mandi', a centralised market for broilers. Members of LMMS and MMVKS argued that most roadside dhabas, fast food vends, paan shops and vegetable/fruit vendors in the city are in business without a licence, but no action has been taken against them.

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