(Representative image)

MUMBAI: BJP legislators demanded that the Maharashtra government not allow slaughterhouses to stay open on Sunday, on the occasion of Mahavir Jayanti . South Mumbai MLAs Mangal Prabhat Lodha and Raj Purohit raised the issue in the legislative assembly on Friday.

The state government did not respond on the issue.

In Mumbai, the Deonar abattoir will remain shut on Sunday, BMC said on Friday. This is a normal practice and traders are not affected as they stock up supply a day before, said civic officials. Besides Mahavir Jayanti, BMC keeps the slaughterhouse shut for Gandhi Jayanti and four days during Paryushan , observed by the Jain community.

It should be noted that the Bombay high court had earlier said that the state government has no statutory powers to direct local bodies to shut slaughterhouses and meat shops on any particular day.

