AHMEDABAD: The Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) in Gujarat on Thursday announced the rollback of a Rs 32 crore provision in its 2026-27 draft budget for a new high-tech slaughterhouse following strong opposition from a BJP MLA.
The project, planned in the Shahwadi–Behrampura area of the South Zone, became the most debated proposal in the budget. According to sources, soon after AMC Commissioner Banshanidhi Pani presented the budget, a high-level meeting was convened at the mayor’s bungalow. The room brought together the mayor, the standing committee chairman, BJP MLAs and key organisational office-bearers.
BJP MLA from Ellisbridge, Amit Shah, objected to the plan claiming it was against his party's ideology. “A budget provision for a slaughterhouse can never be tolerated,” he told the meeting. “This is about the slaughter of mute animals. We do not agree with this decision at all.”
Acknowledging both party resistance and public opinion, the standing committee chairman assured those present that the proposal would be cancelled, effectively applying the brakes to the project before it could move beyond paper.
The AMC had planned to allocate around 15,882 square metres at Town Planning Scheme 32 in Shahwadi–Behrampura. The blueprint included 24x7 veterinary doctors, ante-mortem rooms, chilling facilities, air-conditioned transport vehicles, a rendering plant and an effluent treatment plant to handle blood and waste features claimed to be in line with Supreme Court and Central Government guidelines.
Earlier, in a coordination committee meeting, Congress MLA Imran Khedawala had suggested shifting the existing slaughterhouse near the ST stand to the Peepalj side and converting the old site into a public party plot for citizens. That proposal kept the issue alive but it was the BJP’s framing of the project as an animal cruelty concern that ultimately stalled it.
Despite a budget exceeding Rs 17,000 crore earmarked for roads, infrastructure and urban development, it is the slaughterhouse provision that has dominated conversations across political corridors.