Overview

• The 30-day ban covers Varanasi’s entire 183-square-mile municipal area.
• Enforcement teams dispatched on July 12 have sealed about 350 unlicensed meat and fish shops.
• Violators face FIRs and potential shop seizures under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act.
• Mayor Ashok Kumar Tiwari backed Hanuman Prasad’s proposal, which the Municipal Executive Committee approved unanimously on July 11.
• Authorities cited the influx of up to half a million Shiva devotees during Sawan to justify the closure.