Tunday Kababi, one of Lucknow’s most famous eateries, appears to have fallen victim to the Yogi Adityanath government’s crackdown on illegal meat shops and slaughterhouses in the state.
According to a report on Scroll.in, the century-old eatery rolled down its shutters on Wednesday following scarcity of raw meat in the state capital. The four slaughterhouses in Lucknow were sealed between 2013 and 2015. This was the first time in 110 years that the outlet had to be shut down.
“The shop was shut the entire day. The meat was not available,” Mohammad Usman said yesterday. “Gosht nahi milega to kaise chalayenge. (If we don’t get meat, how will we run the shop)?” he added.
However, the outlet did open today but only served chicken. “Business (is) severely affected, there is shortage of mutton and buffalo meat. We are selling chicken right now,” Abu Bakr of Tunday Kababi told ANI today.
"Step taken by CM to shut illegal slaughterhouses is praiseworthy,but should be ensured that licensed ones don't shut," he added.
While the outlet in Lucknow’s Akbari Gate, which serves buffalo meat, was shut on Wednesday, the other outlet in Aminabad which also serves chicken and mutton was open.
Within two days after Yogi Adityanath was sworn-in as the new UP CM, authorities launched a crackdown on slaughterhouses sealing seven meat-processing units in Meerut, three abattoirs in Aligarh, three in Allahabad, and one abattoir and 16 meat shops in Mathura.
With Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath prioritising the crack down on illegitimate abattoirs in the state immediately after taking office, it is also expected that UP might become the first state to make illegal slaughter on animals a criminal offence.
On its part, the BJP government in UP today clarified that its crackdown was only limited to illegal slaughterhouses and legitimate ones had nothing to fear.
