It all started from Rajkot and then spread to Bhavnagar, Vadodara and now it has reached Ahmedabad. From today most of the metro cities of Gujarat will observe a ban on selling non-vegetarian food in public as per respective municipal corporation guidelines.
Ahmedabad (North Gujarat)
The hot topic of Gujarat these days is Vegetarian food vs Non-Vegetarian food. Last week mayor of Rajkot city Pradip Dav announced a total ban on selling and cooking non-vegetarian food in public places and took stern actions against those who defied this order. A point needs to be noted here that Gujaratis consider egg as a non-vegetarian food unlike some of the other states of India, and because of that various egg varieties and omelet stalls were also removed from the streets of Rajkot last week.
This decision of Rajkot’s mayor spread like a virus and soon after that mayors and corporations of Bhavnagar and Vadodara also joined and announced a total ban on non-vegetarian and egg items cooking and selling in public. Yesterday Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation also announced a similar ban which will come into action from today.
The ban will be applied on selling non-vegetarian foods in public places like roads, schools, colleges, halls, religious places, and gardens. Although these stall-owners are allowed to sell the same outside 100 meters limit of the places mentioned above.
The Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) will take action against those stall-owners who are selling such food items without the required license it has been told. Plus, public exhibition of raw non-vegetarian food items in public is also prohibited by the AMC.
Most of the Gujarat citizens have given their opinion in favor of this decision, but Congress the main opposition party of Gujarat has criticized this development and has charged that this decision is taken to divert people’s minds from the ongoing issue of price rise.
The Gujarat branch of All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) has strongly opposed this decision and their Ahmedabad city president Shamshad Pathan has cautioned the government that if the stalls who are selling non-vegetarian food items are harassed unnecessarily then they will start an agitation against it. AIMIM today will present a memorandum on this issue to Ahmedabad’s mayor Kiritbhai Parmar.
On the other hand the Chief Minister of Gujarat, Bhupendra Patel clarified yesterday that the issue is not vegetarian vs non-vegetarian, but it is about selling food items illegally on the sides of roads by creating difficulties for the public and traffic. Who so ever are creating problems on roads for vehicles will be removed.
Bhupendra Patel also added that the people of Gujarat have a choice about what to eat and what not to, the government will on interfere in their right to eat, but removing those who are creating problems on road is the duty of local bodies and the government of Gujarat.
What do you think about this issue? Should all the stalls of food items be removed from the roads and outside public places or only non-vegetarian stalls should face the burn? Do let us know your views in the comments section given below.
eChhapu
