BBMP, Govt differ over meat ban during festival

 The State government and the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) are not on the same page, as far as the meat ban during the Ganesha festival is concerned.

Soon after the BBMP issued a notice banning the sale of meat during the festival, the Minister for Food and Civil Supplies Dinesh Gundu Rao tweeted that there is no such ban in Karnataka.

However, BBMP Commissioner G Kumar Naik said the ban is very much in place as he has not got any directive from the State government to revoke it. The Palike as well as the State government had come under severe criticism in the social media, minutes after the BBMP issued a circular banning sale of meat on September 17.

It was an embarrassing situation for the Congress which has been fighting tooth and nail against a series of bans in the BJP-ruled states. More vocal was Dinesh Gundu Rao, who took to the social media where the issue was largely debated.

Rao tweeted: “No meat ban in Karnataka..confusion due to a circular issued by previous BJP govt. Will not be binding in Karnataka.. Will not be enforced. Hope more people will come out against these fundamentalist extreme, radical right-wing view points. Liberals should raise their voice.”
Speaking to Deccan Herald, Dinesh Gundu Rao said that the Palike’s notice regarding ban on sale of meat was issued on the basis of a circular issued by the erstwhile BJP government to the Urban Development Department.

The Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai had announced ban on sale of meet and closure of abattoirs for September 13 and 18, the Maharashtra government had banned it further from September 10 and 17.

The civic body later, through a resolution adopted by an emergency meeting of its elected council, withdrew the ban. The Bombay High Court stayed the ban imposed by the Maharashtra government while observing that such a move was not feasible.