For the city Corporation, there perhaps has been no other plan which has proved difficult to get off the ground than the one to revive the slaughterhouse at Kunnukuzhy, which was closed down in February 2013 following detection of unscientific waste management practices. In the past six years, several attempts have been made to build a modern slaughterhouse in place of the closed one, but each of these attempts has failed.
The latest such instance happened at the end of April this year, when only one firm responded to the tender floated by the Corporation. The civic body has now been forced to go for a retender, in the hope that more companies will respond.
Not many firms
“There is lack of enough companies which work in this field. Probably, that is one reason why more companies have not turned up. The retendering will happen this week itself,” said a Corporation source.
The initial plan was to construct a new building at Kunnukuzhy and then make a modern slaughterhouse inside that. But the pollution control board maintained that approval can be provided only if the existing building is utilised. So, the plans for the slaughterhouse have been redrawn to fit the existing building.
KIIFB-funded
It is expected to cost ₹9.5 crore, which will be funded through the Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board (KIIFB).
This is the fourth such plan for the slaughterhouse from the local body in the past six years.
During the UPA government’s time, ₹15 crore was allocated to the local body from the Union Ministry of Food Processing Industries. This plan fell through after the BJP government took over in 2014, as it was not keen on sanctioning funds for modern slaughterhouses, rejecting most such proposals.
Following that, the local body was in talks with five private companies for the setting up a modern abattoir. Due to the costs involved, a private-public partnership project was proposed. However, this had failed to take off as no agreement could be arrived at with any of the companies.
