Navi Mumbai bans meat from Sept 9 to 17

MUMBAI: Even as the controversy over meat ban rages in Maharashtra, the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation has banned sale of meat from September 9 to September 17 in the area under it, citing the Jain festival of Paryushan.

The Navi Mumbai civic body is dominated by the NCP, which had joined the Shiv Sena and Congress in opposing the BJP-led Mira-Bhayandar Municipal Corporation’s decision to ban sale of meat for eight days for the same reason.

In Mumbai, where the civic body has banned meat for four days, BJP corporators such as former Deputy Mayor Dilip Patel have been pressing for extending the ban. But BJP ally Shiv Sena has strongly opposed the move and Sena President Uddhav Thackeray has said that the party wouldn’t allow the ban to be extended.

It is being alleged that the BJP is trying to appease its core vote bank of Gujarati and Jain voters by banning the sale of meat during the festival. While senior BJP leaders like Vinod Tawde and Mumbai party chief Ashish Shelar said there was no BJP agenda, party leader and Maharashtra Minister Prakash Mehta has demanded that Mumbai also ban meat for eight days and not four.