Cattle ban: 'Chicken' kebabs leave customers wincing during Ramzan

Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh) [India] June 5 (ANI): In the city of Nawabs, Lucknow, where the first month of Ramzan witnessed customers flocking to 'Tunday Kabab' to indulge.all does not seem to be well. Following the notification for banning the sale of cows for slaughter under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, there seems to be a gap between the customers and slaughterhouses in Uttar Pradesh, as there has been a 50 percent drop in sale during Ramzan season. With less supply, the cost of meat has also gone up which is pinching people who would normally gorge themselves senseless on 'kabab-parantha' or 'kulche-nihari' during iftar or sehri. Customers who come to the famous 'Tunday Kabab' shop are complaining about portions, saying that earlier they would get a whole meal out of Rs. 60 which could easily satiate two people, but now all they can get from that amount is few pieces of kebabs. Tunde Kabab owner Haji Rais Ahmed said, "There has been a decrease in customers to the shop. Now that we sell chicken kebab, people come here less and still demand beef or mutton. It's been more than two month we are facing losses". Meanwhile, the notification for banning the sale of cows for slaughter under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Regulation of Livestock Markets) Rules, 2017 by Union Environment Ministry has caught BJP leaders here off guard. Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan last month said, that he will call for a meeting of all the Chief Ministers, asserting that the Union Government does not have the right to issue such an order on cattle slaughter ban. Vijayan further said that the Centre's new rule is an impermissible encroachment into the domain of the State Legislatures which is a clear 'violation of the spirit of federalism.' The students at the Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT- Madras) last week staged protest against the Central Government's notification banning the sale of cattle for slaughter. With the police deployed in front of the IIT campus, the students protested at the main gate and raised slogans against the Centre's controversial notification. Around 50 students on May 28 took part in a 'beef fest' as a mark of protest against the new rule. Later, R. Sooraj, a PhD student of aerospace engineering at the college, who was also part of the ' beef fest', was allegedly attacked by a few students from the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP). Sooraj, who is a member of the Ambedkar Periyar Study Circle (APSC), was injured in his right eye and was hospitalized. (ANI)