Hyderabad: Officials try to serve notices on meat shop owners in Barkas, shunted out

Hyderabad: A team of veterinary officials and their staff faced a bitter experience on Sunday at Barkas when they visited to serve notices to meat shop- owners asking them to secure licences. A local leader accompanied the shop owners and shunted out the officials soon after they zeroed-in on the area.

Trouble began the moment the officials reached the area as anxious shop-owners mustered support of Talha Kaseri, AIMIM GHMC Ward Committee Member of Barkas, with alacrity. He questioned the officials' move to serve notices without prior intimation. Petrified the officials tried to pacify the shop-owners by explaining that their primary reason was to encourage and help shop-owners in securing licences. They were heard saying notices are being served only to intimate the shop-owners about the requisite procedure of securing licences and do trade more independently.

Not convinced with the officials' chatter, Kaseri asked them to leave and return with prior intimation to local leadership as their bolt-from-the-blue move would tend to disturb business in the area. Rued Kaseri, "the all-of-a-sudden move of the officials has terrorised the shop-owners who are making a living by running their business peacefully. If at all officials want to help them, they can do so by taking assistance of local leaders who have better understanding with local traders and will prevail upon them to have their licences. Such measures will only put pressure on traders and leave them in a quandary, besides disturbing their business."

"We reached the Barkas area on Sunday to serve notices to shop owners running their business without a proper license. However, this has gone completely wrong as anxious local traders got enraged and sought the help of local leaders who later turned up to fix the issue," informed Mujeeb Pasha, a member of the Veterinary team who visited Barkas area.