?A group of men threatened eateries of Ghaziabad mall for serving non-veg food

Non-veg serving Restaurants

BY - Franchise India Team
Editor Mar 31, 2017/

188

/ 3 MIN READ.

?A group of men threatened eateries of Ghaziabad mall for serving non-veg food

A group of men barged into the Opulent Mall in Ghaziabad and allegedly threatened eateries inside not to serve non-vegetarian dishes during the ongoing Navratra festival.

The entire incident has been captured on CCTV cameras. The men, who were nearly a dozen in number, barged into the mall when it was teeming with visitors.

They confronted the security staff on duty and asked them to prohibit eateries and restaurants from serving non-vegetarian stuff during the nine days of the festival.

A number of popular eateries, including McDonald’s and Nazeer Foods are located on the ground floor of the mall.

Security staff at the mall said the men had arrived at the mall on the previous day too.

Ravish Tyagi, the Mall's Chief Security Officer, said, "They claimed to belong to some Hindu outfit. They asked us to come over to a corner on the ground floor of the mall and asked us not to permit eateries to serve non-vegetarian food. They did not misbehave with the security staff, nor did they assault us. We did not find anything in their behaviour that was worthy of reporting to police. However, the entire incident has been captured in closed circuit television cameras installed inside the mall premises."

A staff member said, "The men were ordinarily dressed. They came over to the counter and asked us to take off non-vegetarian dishes out of the menu for the next nine days. We assured them that we have taken cognizance of their demands and will decide on suspending non-vegetarian dishes from the menu. They were convinced and went away. However, they told us that they will return to cross-check if we are actually adhering to their directions or simply hoodwinking them."

No case had been registered till the time of filing this report. Ghaziabad police said CCTV footage of the incident will be examined.

Salmantaj Patil, SP (city), said, "We haven’t received any complaint regarding the incident so far. Action will be taken if we receive a formal complaint. Investigations will be conducted into it."

Meat shops

?Shiv Sainiks forcefully shut down meat shops and non-veg serving restaurants in Gurgaon

BY - Franchise India Team
Editor Mar 31, 2017 / 4 MIN READ

?Shiv Sainiks forcefully shut down meat shops and non-veg serving restaurants in Gurgaon

A group of twenty men entered the KFC outlet of Gurgaon, Sector 14's main market forcefully and shouted orders to the staff to pull down the shutters.

The men were identified as the members of the local unit of the Shiv Sena, who were demanding that fast food joints and restaurants serving non-veg food, as well as meat shops, remain closed throughout the Navaratra and even every subsequent Tuesday.

It has also been reported that around 200 Shiv Sainiks went to markets of Old Gurgaon and forced around 500 meat shops and family restaurants selling non-veg to pull down their shutters.

Ritu Raj, who claims to be Shiv Sena's Gurgaon spokesperson, said, "Our drive was directed at meat shops initially, but later, we extended it to restaurants and fast food chains. Since most Hindus observe fast during these nine days and do not eat meat, we feel it would be a good gesture on part of these joints to stop their operations or at least pull non-veg off their menus."

An employee from the KFC in Sector 14 said, "Our management decided to close down at that time but we re-opened at about 5pm later that day. We didn't want any confrontation so did not protest. Hopefully, the administration will sort the matter out. We can't close the outlet for all nine days without orders from high up."

A staff-member at another KFC in Gurgaon says, "Our sale already dips during the Navratras. Incidents like these will drive more customers away. If we close down for nine days straight, that will mean massive losses for us."

The manager of a McDonald's outlet in Gurgaon, said, "After the KFC incident, and since we had also received the notice from these guys, we reported the matter to our seniors, who took it up with the authorities. We have been told that the matter will be sorted and we will not face any problems now."

Ritu Raj said, "We talked to the owners or management. They agreed with our demands and co-operated with us. We did not have to use force anywhere. It was done through consensus and we appreciate the spirit of our brother shopkeepers in support of our campaign."

He further added, "We want these restaurants and shops to be closed on every Tuesday as a mark of respect and social harmony. We will see to it that this is carried out across Gurgaon."

On the other hand, reports say that the Shiv Sena has distanced itself from these 'raids'. "There's no spokesperson by this name (Ritu Raj) in Shiv Sena. We didn't carry out any such drive in Gurugram," Harshal Pradhan, media advisor to Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray, was quoted as saying.

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