The modern slaughterhouse constructed nearly a decade ago near Vidyadharapuram and lying unused till now is likely to be put to use, if the efforts being made by the Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC) yield results.
The corporation has recently asked the AP State Meat and Poultry Development Corporation (APSMPDC) to identify a party that could put the slaughter house to use. The APSMPDC director recently sent a team of technical experts to inspect the slaughterhouse. They visited the abattoir and submitted a report to their higher-ups. Now, the VMC plans to send officials to Hyderabad and hold discussions to take the issue to its logical conclusion.
In case the APSMPDC is able to identify a suitable firm, the corporation would enter into an agreement with it to run the abattoir in private-public partnership (PPP) mode. Though the modalities are yet to be worked out, it appears that the firm identified for running the abattoir would be asked to pay a lease amount or rent to the corporation, officials say.
The corporation constructed the slaughterhouse at a cost of about Rs.1 crore. But it could not be put to use till now for various reasons. The corporation could not find any agency that has the technical knowhow to run the ‘kabela'. The state-of-the-art machinery installed in the abattoir is gathering dust.
VMC officials feel that putting the slaughterhouse to use would be helpful in preventing environmental pollution. The waste generated by the old slaughterhouse is posing environmental problems. If the modern abattoir is made to run, the waste generated there could be used in biomethanisation plant. Mailhem Engineering Private Limited had set up a factory to convert the waste generated out of vegetables and animal slaughter into gas at an installed capacity of 3,200 units of power a day, officials point out.
