Proposal to ban meat sale for 8 days in Mira-Bhayander

MUMBAI: A proposal has been moved in the Mira-Bhayander Municipal Corporation (MBMC) to ban the sale of meat in the region for eight days next month, when Jains fast. Mayor Catleen Pereira said the proposal would be sent to the state government for a final decision.
The civic administration had last year banned the sale of meat for three days during Paryushan, a period of fasting for Jains, based on a circular issued by the Maharashtra government in 2004.Paryushan will be observed at the end of August this year.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) corporator Geeta Jain, who moved the proposal at the general body meeting last Saturday, said Gujarat bans the sale of meat for 18 days during the fasting period.
BJP district president and corporator Narendra Mehta said the Jain trust had compensated 140 shopkeepers who had incurred losses due to the closure of meat shops during the ban last year. Mehta added that the Jain community would compensate the shopkeepers this year too.
But senior BJP leader and corporator Rohidas Patil opposed the proposal, and said it was an attempt at creating a communal divide. He said that a “good number of people” in the region depended on meat and fish, and it should be left to the people to decide what they want to eat.
The civic administration has been imposing the ban for a few days during Paryushan since 2008.
Jain monks in Bhayander (West) and members of the community had in 2011 taken out a morcha to the Mira Bhayander Municipal Corporation to protest against a corporator’s remarks while opposing a ban on meat sale in the region.