NEW DELHI: After being shut for a month, the Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) has given a nod to the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) to start the operation of Ghazipur slaughterhouse.
The DPCC has laid down some environmental rules which need to be followed such as ensuring 100 per cent recycling of treated water using RO/nanofiltration as per the CPCB guidelines within six months. Adding to this, the MCD has to establish Biomethanon plants, ingesta, and dung drying plants at the earliest.
Earlier, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) directed the formation of a committee to inspect the environmental issues related to the slaughterhouse situated at Ghazipur. Arshad Qureshi, President of Delhi Merchant Meat Association welcomed this step and said that it is MCD’s responsibility to maintain the slaughterhouse. He said, “This is one of the modern slaughterhouses of India, which fulfils the need of almost 70% non-vegetarians. It delivers meat to hotels, embassies, hospitals among other places. One can estimate the amount of loss it suffered due to the shutdown.”
The meat sellers of the city said that the opening of the slaughterhouse will be a big relief for them. Usmaan Qureshi, who runs a meat shop at Jorbagh market said, “It will obviously bring profit for us.”
He added, “As we are not getting mutton from Ghazipur, we have to buy it from other shops. I bought mutton from the gazetted slaughterhouse at Gurgaon, which was way more expensive.”
The slaughterhouse in Ghazipur is the only solely authorised slaughterhouse in the city where goats, sheep, and buffaloes are killed for domestic consumption. The MCD spent `150 crores to construct the facility, which was opened for business back in 2009.
While there are other locations in the city where chickens are butchered, the Ghazipur slaughterhouse on the Delhi-UP boundary is the only place where goats, lambs, and buffaloes can be butchered. The slaughterhouse has the capacity to handle 1,500 buffaloes and 13,500 goats/sheep per day.