Rampurhat Municipality has ordered three meat shops on Court Lane in Birbhum to remain closed for two days during Chhath Puja, citing the need to respect public sentiment because meat is cut openly at the roadside establishments.
The directive, issued on Friday on the municipality’s letterhead and signed and stamped by chairman Soumen Bhaktar, requires the shops to remain shut on Sunday and Monday, November 15 and 16, 2026. The notice also instructs meat sellers to cover slaughtered animals, including goat, castrated goat and sheep, with red cloth on other days when their shops are open.
Municipal officials said the order applies specifically to three shops located next to one another on Court Lane. Chairman Bhaktar told Anandabazar that the decision was taken because meat is cut in public at the shops. He said the municipality wanted to respect the sentiments of people observing Chhath Puja.
The order has drawn criticism from meat traders, who said the festival had been observed in Rampurhat earlier without such a closure directive. A shopkeeper from Court Lane said the municipality had called and informed the business that it would have to remain closed on November 15 and 16. The trader said the shop also supplied meat to restaurants and had regular customers on Sundays, traditionally a high-sales day.
The trader said the municipality could have allowed the businesses to operate behind closed shutters or screens, which would have reduced the financial loss. However, the shopkeeper added that the instruction had come from the civic authorities and would have to be followed.
The directive has also triggered a political dispute. Former Congress legislator Milton Rashid alleged that the decision was politically motivated and claimed the municipal chairman was seeking to improve his standing with the Bharatiya Janata Party. Rashid also alleged that, after the election, several councillors were maintaining ties with the BJP to protect their positions. These allegations were reported by Anandabazar and were not independently established in the supplied report.
The BJP’s state chief spokesperson, Debjit Sarkar, responded that those who considered the issue unimportant could approach the courts, adding that the doors of the judiciary were open to everyone.
The municipality’s stated position is that the closure is limited to the three roadside shops where cutting takes place openly. The order does not state that all meat shops in Rampurhat will be closed, and the supplied report does not mention any separate compensation or alternative operating arrangement for the affected traders.
