Indian town bans meat sales

Indian town bans meat sales

NEW DELHI (Reuters): The sale of meat has been banned in a northern Indian town to encourage vegetarianism among its 150,000 inhabitants, a local official said on Tuesday.

"The municipal corporation imposed a ban on selling meat in the town to promote vegetarianism and spirituality among the masses," said Khuban Devi, chairwoman of the Municipal Corporation of Palwal. "All the meat shops in the town are closed."

Meat traders in Palwal, about 70 kilometers south of New Delhi, have reacted angrily to the ban and have filed a petition in the local court to quash it.

"The ban is completely wrong and false. You cannot take away the employment of hundreds of people just like that," said Suresh Chutani, a local councillor and a representative of the town's hotel federation.