NEW DELHI: Birds hovering over the discarded innards of goats and poultry outside slaughter houses and illegal dhabas in RK Puram and Rangpuri Pahadi are being seen as a major threat to aircraft overflying the area. So much so that the urban affairs ministry has asked municipal authorities to take immediate action to demolish or seal these outlets.
In a letter to the South Delhi Municipal Corporation and police last week, the ministry said: “Take immediate action to demolish/seal illegal slaughtering houses/shops/dhabas existing at Indira Market, Ekta Vihar, Sector-7, R.K. Puram, Rangpuri Pahadi to avoid mis-happening of air crash in residential areas.”
The matter was brought to the ministry’s notice in January by the Medical Relief and Public Health Committee. In a letter, committee chairperson Bhagat Singh Tokas wrote “in Indira Market, Ekta Vihar, Sector-7, R.K. Puram, there are many illegal slaughtering meat shops, illegal dhabas are still operating and shop owners/dhaba owners are throwing waste meat in the adjacent drain”.
Pointing out that this was the main cause of “increasing bird activity in the area”, Tokas wrote this could result “in an air crash at any time and many people could lose their lives”. The risk, obviously, was that the hovering birds could come in the flight path of aircraft taking off from Delhi airport.
“Similarly, in the Rangpuri Pahadi area, illegal slaughtering meat shops and illegal dhabas are running. There is illegal waste-dumping and de-skinning of animals at Rangpuri Pahadi, as a result of which a huge amount of waste meat and garbage is being generated."
Tokas alleged there were illegal activities going on in the shops, which were “against the Trade Meat Licence Policy of the Health Department and in violation of the SDMC rules”.
Slaughterhouse and meat shop owners claimed they repeatedly asked municipal authorities to demarcate a place for garbage dumping. Aabid Khan, a shop owner, said, “We have had shops in Indira Market for three decades. We met several local leaders and SDMC officers, asking them to identify a place or provide us a way to dispose of the garbage that attracts birds. But nothing has been done, and now the government will demolish our shops.”
Some local residents appeared all for shifting out the slaughterhouses and meat shops. Rahul Mehto, a government servant residing in RK Puram, Sector 6, said, “If you visit the market area in the morning, you will find hundreds of birds eating the entrails... It pollutes the environment. We want the government to shift these shops.”
