Gurugram, Mar 23 (IANS): The meat shopkeepers on Tuesday staged a protest against the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) team that reached Shona Chowk in old Gurugram to close meat outlets which were opened despite the MCG orders.

The decision was taken during a house meeting of the MCG on March 18. The proposal to keep meat shops shut every Tuesday was approved after a few councillors raised the issue citing 'Hindu sentiments'.

Apart from this, the civic body had also decided to increase the license fee for meat shops from Rs 5,000 to Rs 10,000. In case a meat selling store is found to be running illegally, it will have to pay ten times in penalty which has been increased from Rs 500 to Rs 5,000.

"There is no law to close meat shops every Tuesday. We will soon approach the Deputy Commissioner (DC), Gurugram and the MCG Commissioner against this restrictions and if our demands are not meet we will approach the court for our rightful justice," Tahir Khan, president, Meat Market Association told IANS.

Meanwhile, the MCG officials who faced the ire of the meat shopkeepers said they were just following the orders.

"According to the corporation order it was told that if we found any shop opened it would be closed after issuing warning and if the shop remained open despite warning a fine of Rs 5,000 would be issued against the said establishment," said a MCG official.

"It is a dictatorship by the MCG. Who has given right to them to close meat shops every Tuesday in Gurugram. The civic body officials without counsulting the meat establishment owners issued such baseless orders. We will soon approach the district administration in connection with the matter," Hazi Shahad Khan, Chairman Muslim Ekta Manch told IANS.