MALAPPURAM: The Malappuram Municipal Council has set up a committee to study the problems posed by the municipal abattoir and to suggest a lasting solution to them. The committee will study all aspects of the slaughterhouse, including an alternative, and present its report in three months.

The move has come in the wake of a public outcry against environmental pollution caused by the abattoir at Hajiyarpalli, near here. The committee was formed at a special meeting of the council held to discuss the issue here on Tuesday.

Nanath Moosa Haji, chairman of the municipal health committee, will head the committee. The other members of the committee are N.K. Usman, Khader Master and Assain Kutty, ruling councillors from Malappuram, Panakkad and Melmuri villages respectively; Opposition leader K.P. Anil and Opposition councillors P.P. Abdu Haji and Ramla Basheer.

Modernisation

Briefing the media after the meeting, municipal chairman Kiliyamannil Yakoob said the council would solve the nagging problems of Malappuram town at any cost. He said the slaughterhouse would be shifted from Hajiyarpalli and a place found for setting up a modernised one.

The council meeting witnessed uproarious scenes with the members of the ruling front and the Opposition engaging in a heated exchange of words and the latter staging a walkout.

When the ruling members suggested that an alternative be found, the Opposition benches insisted that legal action be initiated against those responsible for bringing the abattoir to the current crisis.

The council had spent about Rs.20 lakh by trying to modernise the abattoir through Steel Industries of Kerala Ltd (SILK). Although it spent Rs.20 lakh, the work for about Rs.5 lakh was done.

Opposition leader K.P. Anil demanded that the irregularities in awarding the modernisation work to SILK be investigated and the guilty brought to book.

Dharna planned

Addressing reporters later, Mr. Anil said the Opposition would launch an agitation demanding legal action against those who squandered the public money. He said they would stage a dharna at Hajiyarpalli on Thursday evening.

Opposition member O. Sahadevan told the council that the abattoir had been set up about two decades ago in spite of the resistance by the then Opposition.

Former chairperson C.H. Jameela countered him saying that the slaughterhouse was the result of a collective decision by the council. Ayyoob Areekath, welfare standing committee chairman, pleaded for a concerted move to solve the crisis.

The remarks of Ramla Basheer, Opposition member, that the ruling front had been resorting to intimidating tactics incensed young Indian Union Muslim League members like Harris Amiyan. "You have not been elected unanimous," Mr. Amiyan was heard shouting to Ms. Basheer.

Perumpally Sayed, DICK councillor, bewailed that his name never appeared in the newspapers despite the good works he did for the people.

Chairman Yakoob wound up the debate by conceding that the council was at fault in awarding the modernisation contract to SILK.

"But we will chalk out a permanent solution now," he said.

Till then, he said, slaughter would be permitted at other places without causing difficulties to the people. The municipality would oversee the activities.

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