MCD tweaks norms for meat shops, cuts fees

New Delhi: The Municipal Corporation of Delhi has reduced the minimum permissible distance between a meat shop and a religious place in densely populated areas to 100 metres from 150 metres.
On October 31, last year, the civic body had approved the condition of the minimum distance of 150 metres as part of a new policy for granting new or renewed licences for meat shops.
On December 28, MCD gave its nod to a revised proposal introduced as a private member bill by AAP councillors Sultana Abad and Amin Malik that proposed to relax the distance norm, along with some other provisions.
“According to the previous proposal, meat shops were supposed to be 150 metres away from religious places, but this is not possible in a highly congested place like Jama Masjid. The move will benefit nearly 6,000 meat shops under MCD’s jurisdiction,” said Abad.
According to the revised proposal, the fee charged for renewal of the licence for a meat shop has also been slashed to Rs 5,000 from Rs 7,000. To transfer the licence to the legal heir after death, a feeof Rs 5,500 will be charged. The revised proposal brings down the fine imposed incase of violation of rules to Rs 10,000. In the previous proposal, the fine imposed for rule violation was set at Rs 20,000 for the first offence and Rs 50,000 for any further rule breaks.
In addition, MCD has also given its nod to reduce the minimum area required to open a meat shop to 50 sq ft from 60 sq ft earlier.
In October, the civic body had passed a new licensing policy for meat shops that was aimed at standardising licensing fees across the MCD zones and fixing the minimum distance between a meat shop and any religious place at 150 metres. It had then drawn opposition from meat sellers in the city who feared that the new regulations would adversely impact many of them.