It was in 2017 that the Union Ministry of Food Processing Industries had approved a semi-automatic slaughterhouse for Puducherry, the first such facility for the city to supply quality and hygienic meat for the hundreds of hotels and retail vendors.
But little has been done to execute the project, which has been hanging fire for the last two-and-half years due to stiff resistance from the locals. Consequently, the meat sold by retail vendors in the city except the municipal markets remain unchecked as animals are illegally cut on the streets posing a grave health hazard.
Residents allege that the slaughterhouse on temporary premises in Attupatti, where a new one has been proposed, has been operating in unhygienic conditions. They also demanded the government to shift the proposed facility and allot house site pattas to them.
According to Prameela, a resident, “We are fed up with the stench from the slaughterhouse. Though repeated representations have been made to shift the abattoir to the outskirts of the city it has failed to evoke any response. The Uppar Canal runs close to the road and people are finding it difficult to walk through the stretch.”
The Union Ministry of Food Processing Industries had approved the modernisation of the existing slaughterhouse with a semi-automatic slaughter line with a capacity for 600 small animals (sheep and goat) per day. Large animals which were also slaughtered at the existing facility would be shifted to another site. The project cost was fixed at ₹5.10 crore. This included 50% grant-in-aid from the Union Ministry of Food Processing Industries, under a Centre sponsored scheme, while the remaining was to be borne by the Puducherry government.
Supreme Court orders
The modernisation of the slaughterhouse was proposed as per the orders from the Supreme Court. The objective was to prevent illegal slaughtering, roadside slaughtering, prevent the spread of zoonotic diseases especially tuberculosis, prevent stray dog menace and cruelty to animals and to provide clean, hygienic meat to the public.
According to an official, “The Ministry had released ₹24.5 lakh (10% of the grants) and the existing slaughterhouse was also demolished in 2017 to pave way for its modernisation. However, the project failed to take off due to resistance from locals and the contract lapsed. An abattoir has been functioning in the area for more than 150 years. The locals have been deliberately raising the issue with the support of some politicians. The Ministry has now directed the Puducherry government to return the funds.
The department has now identified three other sites for the abattoir but the one at Attupatti is the ideal location for the facility,” an official said, under the condition of anonymity. The abattoir is now functioning at a makeshift premises with 25% space as the original structure following the latter’s demolition.
Lapsed contracts
The proposed facility was to be completed in 12 months and handed over to the Puducherry Municipality on a turn-key basis for operation and maintenance. But the contract has already lapsed and now, the department has to float tenders for finalising another contractor. This has left the city without a fully functional slaughterhouse.
Though the Department of Social Welfare of Puducherry government had promised to build multi-storey tenements for the locals in the area nothing has been done so far. “The department is neither using the premises nor allowing us to modernise the slaughter line,” an official from the welfare department said.
According to an official of the Department of Animal Husbandry, “the existing slaughterhouse is now only partially functional. While the municipality has been giving its stamp of approval for the meat supplied to retail vendors and hotels, the slaughtering is done in an unhygienic manner. There has been no inspection on whether the animal is healthy or infected or dead. Municipal rules mandate that a veterinarian checks the animal for disease before approving slaughter. In addition, young animals and pregnant animals should not be slaughtered. This was also essential from the point of hygiene.”
The official added that in several areas of Puducherry and its suburbs, beef from dead and infected animals was mostly supplied and consequently the risk of contamination were even more.
The slaughter line should also have unloading ramps, holding pins, lairage, isolation pen for sick animals, blood collection system, modern tools for skinning, refrigerated vans, cold storage and state-of-the-art effluent treatment plant and power supply systems.
An effluent treatment plant and incinerator should also be established for proper disposal of waste and to prevent environment pollution.
Safety rules flouted
However, all these rules seem to have been given a miss by the authorities, he said. The rise in unauthorised retail meat vendors in Puducherry and Oulgaret has become a major problem for the municipalities. Most of these vendors have been slaughtering goats on the roadside, in makeshift shops, and function in unhygienic conditions posing health hazard to the citizens.
Though they function mostly during the weekends, the vendors dump the animal waste on roads. Rodents and stray dogs eat the leftovers resulting in serious health hazards especially leptospirosis.
Oulgaret has more number of such unauthorised outlets when compared to Puducherry Municipality. The municipality should regulate them and prescribe standards of cleanliness since there is no proper place for disposal.
The animals are skinned and meat is transported to hotels in an unhygienic manner.
