The police in Tamil Nadu’s Kancheepuram district have withdrawn a circular directing meat and biryani shop owners to shut down their stalls for three days in view of the Ganesh Chaturthi celebrations after it created unrest among sections of the society and drew flak on social media.
In the notice which was shared widely on social media, the inspector of Shiva Kanchi P1 police station asked meat and biryani shop owners in the Sengazhu Neerodai street and Kanchi Sankara Mutt localities not to open their stalls from September 2 to September 4 when the procession of Ganesh idols is set to take place. The Ganesh Chaturthi celebrations are set to take place from August 31 in the state. It was noted in the circular that the move was initiated to avoid any kind of disturbances.
Inspector J Vinayagam told indianexpress.com that the notice was issued without his knowledge and noted that no such restrictions are in place.
“It was a mistake. The notice was issued without my knowledge. The notice did not even reach people, it was within our office premises and somehow it got leaked and people shared it on social media. Members of various organisations met us regarding this circular and we have informed them that no such orders are issued, they can function as usual,” he said.
Issues related to biryani and meat shops have been frequent in Tamil Nadu of late. A few weeks ago, the ‘Singara Chennai Food Festival 2022’ came under the scanner for missing out on beef stalls. Health Minister Ma Subramanian noted that no caterer offered to put up a beef stall and later following the outburst on social media, a stall was set up.
In May, the Tirupattur district administration planned to organise a three-day biryani food festival in Ambur with plans to get a Geographical Index (GI) tag for the famous Ambur biryani. A controversy soon erupted after district collector Amar Kushwaha announced that the administration would avoid beef and pork biryani in the festival. The administration was criticised heavily and eventually the collector postponed the festival citing weather.