Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

Bid to check illegal slaughter in Thiruvananthapuram city

T. Nandakumar

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The City Corporation is expecting Central assistance to set up five new service abattoirs and modernise the existing slaughterhouse at Kunnukuzhy, under a project aimed at checking illegal slaughter of animals. The Rs.9-crore project also envisages the procurement of five refrigerated meat vans.

The new abattoirs will be partially mechanised, with facilities for safe and hygienic slaughter. They will be equipped with lairages to keep animals, stun guns, bleeding chambers to collect blood, rails and hoisting equipment to move the carcass, separate compartments for animal waste, boilers, meat storage rooms, delivery counters, veterinarians' chamber and sanitary waste disposal arrangements including incinerators. Separate chambers would be provided for small animals such as goats and larger animals like oxen.

The Corporation has identified land at Ambalathara, Kadakampally, Kunchalummoodu, Kudappanakunnu and Nemom to set up the new abattoirs. Civic officials said the availability of service abattoirs in all the zones would help to check unauthorised slaughter. The existing slaughterhouse at Kunnukuzhy will also be modernised in line with the new ones. The project has been included in the City Development Plan submitted to the Union Ministry of Urban Development for assistance under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM). The CDP states that the lone service abattoir maintained by the Corporation is inadequate for a city with a population of 7.44 lakh.

The facility at Kunnukuzhy is able to meet only a fraction of the demand for meat in the city. It is estimated that, on an average, only 20 large animals and 50 small animals (goats) are brought to the abattoir every day. The daily output is less than 3,000 kg. of meat, against an average daily requirement of 10,000 kg. The document notes that in the absence of service abattoirs in close proximity, unauthorised killing of animals for meat is prevalent in all over the city. The major portion of the daily demand for meat is met by unhygienic slaughtersheds attached to the city markets. Animals are butchered on the premises of hotels and houses at various places in brazen violation of public health safeguards.

A network of agents regularly supplies bovines and goats to the illegal abattoirs at Palayam, Kunjalumoodu, Thirumala, Kesavadasapuram, Vallakadavu, Peroorkada and Vattiyoorkavu. The slaughter takes place in the wee hours and the meat is rushed to the hotels and markets well before the city wakes up.

Official sources say many of the illegal slaughterhouses operate in miserable conditions. Diseased or dead animals are often brought for slaughter. The meat is fly-infested and contaminated with mud and dirt. At many places, unsold meat is frozen and marketed the next day.

The animal wastes are stuffed into sewer manholes, dumped by the roadsides or into gutters. Crows, dogs and kites pick up the wastes and drop them into wells and on the premises of houses.

Officials point out that the Corporation was liable to face legal action unless it took steps to provide hygienic facilities for meat production.

While the construction of five new abattoirs is expected to consume Rs.7.5 crore, an amount of Rs.1 crore has been proposed for the modernisation of the existing facility at Kunnukuzhy. The procurement of refrigerated meat vans will cost another Rs.50 lakh. The Health standing committee of the Corporation has simultaneously drawn up a project to provide model sales outlets for meat at the Peroorkada market. "The idea is to assure the customer that the meat put up for sale is safe and hygienic," says L. Ravikumar, senior veterinary surgeon. As many as 10 outlets in the Peroorkada market are to be furnished with glass panels and hygienic equipment to store the meat.

Meanwhile, the Local Self Government department has assured the City Corporation that the ongoing Vigilance probe into the modernisation of the Kunnukuzhy abattoir would be expedited. Officials said even routine maintenance of the facility had become difficult because of the inquiry. Efforts are on to complete the probe within a month, they said.

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