Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Adityanath on Saturday said the crackdown ordered on meat shops and slaughterhouses would not affect those that had licence, reported The Indian Express. “The government will not touch those [abattoirs] which are operating as per the provisions of the law and have a valid licence,” he said in Gorakhpur. “But those which are violating the orders of the National Green Tribunal, creating pollution and playing with the health of the public…all those slaughterhouses would be shut down. We have started working on it.”

Adityanath said his newly formed government’s decision was based on NGT’s request to take action against illegal slaughterhouses. He said the green panel had been urging for action against such establishments for the past two years.

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Adityanath also defended his anti-Romeo squads that have attracted considerable criticism. “If a girl is walking alone on the road at 10 pm or at midnight, she must feel safe in Uttar Pradesh,” the chief minister said. He assured the crowds that he did not support harassment of girls and boys spending time together in public. However, he claimed that after becoming CM of the state, he had received calls from women complaining about eve-teasing.

He said his government in Uttar Pradesh would follow Narendra Modi’s policy of ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas’. He promised that no one would be discriminated against on the basis of caste, faith, religion or sex. However, he said his government would not indulge in appeasement of anyone either. “Vikas sabka hoga lekin tushtikaran kisi ka nahin hoga [We will work for the welfare of all but there would be appeasement towards none],” Adityanath said.

He also spoke about working on the law and order situation in the state and said he would make the state the most developed one in the country. The state Public Works Department has been ordered to make the state roads free of potholes by June 15, the CM said. His government has also decided to provide Rs 1 lakh grant to those wishing to go for Kailash Mansarovar Yatra. He said the setting up of a Kailash Mansarovar Bhawan for pilgrims is also on his agenda.

He was sworn in as the chief minister of the state on March 19 after the Bharatiya Janata Party and its allies won 325 seats in the 403 state Assembly. His government has initiated a crackdown on meat shops and slaughterhouses in the state since he came to power. Several meat shops in the state have shut shop because of scarcity of meat in the state. Lucknow has suffered the most with the only four legal slaughterhouses shut down between 2013 and 2015. On March 21, three meat shops owned by members of the Muslim community were set ablaze in Hathras.