A PET store near a mosque in Arad was forced to shut down following massive protests by angry worshippers, it has emerged.
This has prompted MPs to demand a reorganisation of commercial districts in Bahrain.
They believe the haphazard granting of commercial registrations (CRs) over the years has resulted in chaos being witnessed in various parts of the country,
Recently, the Muharraq Municipal Council demanded the closure of a coffee shop in which men were sitting outside a government secondary girls’ school, but the Industry, Commerce and Tourism Ministry rejected it.
Parliament’s public utilities and environment affairs committee chairman Mohammed Buhamood said there are no field inspections of locations with CRs being granted by just looking at a map, or photographs.
Mr Buhamood
“Services have to be made available in all areas, but the process has to be logical.
“For instance, a bird shop between restaurants in Hamad Town has raised concerns over hygiene and fears that it could lead to a spread of bird-related diseases.
“This is not an unimaginable scenario considering that Covid-19, avian influenza (bird flu), chlamydiosis and salmonellosis, amongst others, have been transmitted to humans from birds.”
He said approval of services needed to follow an acceptable pattern.
“Angry worshippers have forced the multi-service pet store near a mosque to close down with repeated complaints against loud barks, noise and the purity of the place,” said Mr Buhamood.
“The shop shouldn’t have been allowed near the mosque; the problem could have been avoided if an actual field inspection had been conducted.
“Unfortunately, it only happens when there are complaints like in the case of the Muharraq sheesha café and even then inspections are cosmetic, when no active violating CR is terminated.”
MP Ahmed Al Demistani, who proposed the move to have commercial areas reorganised, called an end to the chaos.
“I am not speaking about a karak and samosa cafeteria in the middle of an abaya and barbershop; I am speaking about a garage, bird shop and a restaurant all in the same building.
“If someone wants to open a shop they get permissions from all relevant authorities and it gets granted electronically in no time, this is the good part, but the negative aspect is that the actual site is not assessed. “This is the reason for all the chaos we are witnessing with random shops opening as in the case of the dogs store in Arad.”
Arad MP Ammar Qambar said that it is not the fault of the pet shop’s owner that he got a license, but that of the government authorities concerned.
“There are other shops there in the area offering the same services within a close distance from the mosque and homes and they shouldn’t face the same unfortunate fate.
“They could be asked to put sound silencers or smell and noise control as conditions, but forcing closure is something wrong.”
“A service is being offered due to demand and someone opened a shop after getting approvals so it is not their fault that people aren’t happy because there are others who want such things available in the area.”
Arad councillor Ahmed Al Meghawi said having a pets and birds’ food and accessories store was acceptable near the mosque, but not kennels or grooming.
mohammed@gdn.com.bh
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