Almost every morning between 8 and 10 and in the evenings between 3 and 5, the traffic at Hanumanthawaka Junction is forced to slow down. The situation aggravates on Saturday evenings and Sunday mornings. The traffic slowdown is not because of some kind of a traffic jam or a long traffic signal. It is slowed down by herds of sheep and goats that flock to the abattoir, which is located abutting the traffic junction.
“Passing through the junction on Saturday evening is a nightmare, as we have to negotiate between the four-legged animals as they virtually block the passage. Despite honking, they neither move nor shepherds bother to clear the way,” says Ch. Suryanarayana who works as a lecturer in a private engineering college located near Madhurawada.
This has been a perennial problem and it cannot be solved unless and until the abattoir is shifted from there, says D. Rajeev, an engineering student. “Not only time is wasted but it has become a reason for many accidents,” he adds.
On Saturdays and Sundays, most of the meat sellers from across the city come to the abattoir to get the animals certified by the veterinary officials of the Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation and also when the sheep farmers make it to the spot to sell animals.
The abattoir has been there for the last couple of decades, and at least 3,000 sheep and goats are herded to the spot on Saturday evenings alone. A GVMC official has informed The Hindu that about 1,500 are officially stamped and another 1,000 are unofficially sold.
In Visakhapatnam there are two official abattoirs under the control of the GVMC, located at Hanumanthawaka and Karvanipalem in Gajuwaka.
A proposal to construct a modern abattoir at Paradesapalem by the GVMC in about 11-acre land in public-private partnership at a cost of about Rs. 35 crore is pending.
