BHOPAL: Mayor Alok Sharma has said that Bhopal Municipal Corporation (BMC) has identified more than 100 illegal meat shops in various parts of the city and action would soon be taken against them under relevant rules and regulations. He was interacting with media persons after his second public hearing ‘Bhopal ki Choupal’ at his residence on Monday.
However, the mayor did not say if the move was inspired by UP chief minister Yogi Adiyanath’s campaign against (illegal) slaughter houses in the neighbouring state. He also said meat shops scattered in different parts of the city would be shifted to a meat market, which would be covered.
“To prevent meat shops from displaying meat openly in different residential areas, they would soon be shifted to a covered meat market. Discussions regarding the same have already been done with the butcher community and they have also agreed to shift their shops there. So far we have decided that the meat shops would be able to operate in Islampura and Itwara localities of the city,” he said.
Earlier during the second public hearing session on Monday, Sharma attended to residents from various localities and listened to their grievances, providing solutions to them. Members of the eunuch community also met him during the hearing and listed some of their demands before him.
“We want to offer quality life to the eunuch community of the city and do everything possible for their uplift. We would also decide a specific day in the week to discuss the work being done to solve the problems of the residents who submitted their complaints here. I would personally write letters to them asking about the progress of the work and also speak to them over phone,” added Sharma.
“We urge the mayor to exempt us from property tax and water bill. Apart, we also urge him to take necessary steps to provide us Aadhar card and other identity documents as there are about 500 eunuchs in the Mangalwara camp out of which only 20 or 30 have Aadhar card.
The mayor promised us that we would soon be given houses under the Prime Minister Awas Yojana (PMAY) for which we are thankful to him,” said one of the members of the eunuch community, Kahal adding the mayor has asked them to meet the collector to discuss the procedures to get Aadhar card and housing facility under PMAY. Speaking to Free Press, public relation officer (BMC), Harish Gupta said in the second session of Bhopal ki Choupal, total 126 applications were received comprising both complaints and demands of the residents regarding various issues pertaining to BMC. “So far in both the sessions, more than 300 applications have been received by BMC. Solutions are being provided accordingly to give relief to people,” said Gupta.
