Overview
- The Urban Development and Housing Department issued letters directing municipal commissioners to close unlicensed outlets, verify permits and enforce location and hygiene rules.
- Licensed vendors are to be relocated to designated sites such as slaughterhouses, with shops required to be screened from public view using curtains or glass panels.
- Officials have prepared penalties including fines, sealing of premises and seizure of goods, with surprise checks reported in towns and cities.
- Deputy Chief Minister Vijay Kumar Sinha linked the curb to public health, social harmony and preventing “violent tendencies” in children, a claim widely challenged as lacking scientific support.
- The drive builds on last week’s decision to end open and unlicensed meat and fish sales across urban local bodies, with the government stressing it is regulating sale conditions rather than people’s food choices.