NEW DELHI: At just past 3 am, the first truck arrives—its towering stack of wire crates squealing and shaking under the weight of thousands of live chickens.
The Ghazipur poultry market, a key hub for the wholesale poultry trade in the capital, is already awake. Flashlights dart in the darkness, middlemen shout prices and buyers elbow through narrow, slippery lanes to claim their stock before daybreak. By sunrise, the stench of blood and decay hangs thick in the air. Kites circle low overhead, hoping for scraps. Stray dogs scavenge around heaps of discarded feathers, entrails and bones.
In gumboots slick with muck, workers pull birds from cramped cages and slit their throats in swift, practised motions. The viscera is tossed into handcarts, blood swept away with brooms and trickling water, forming crimson puddles that run into open drains.
Photography is strictly prohibited and women are barred from entering. Yet residents of nearby colonies complain that the stench spreads across several streets. The adjacent drain, they say, turns red every morning. Outside the market gate, sellers have illegally constructed tin-shed stalls, taking over the space above the drain. The market rarely sees proper cleaning and during rain, pools of filthy water collect in every corner, stagnating for days.
Technically, the slaughter lines operate on land owned by the Delhi Agricultural Marketing Board (DAMB). But in practice, much of what goes on at Ghazipur violates national regulations for animal slaughter. These rules require hygienic handling of blood and offal, hand-washing stations, tool sterilisers and closed drainage systems. Eyewitnesses and repeated inspections confirm: Ghazipur has none of these.
A long trail of inaction
Officials have been aware of these violations for years. In February 2017, the Supreme Court directed all states and Union Territories to implement slaughterhouse guidelines and enforce pollution norms under the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 and Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981.
Five months later, the sub-divisional magistrate (SDM) of East Delhi asked DAMB to halt all killing at the site. The Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) had already conducted two inspections, recording severe air and water contamination. Following this, the Delhi High Court prohibited any slaughter on the premises, allowing only the sale of live birds. Yet enforcement proved short-lived. In January 2019, the DPCC granted conditional permission to resume slaughter, only to withdraw it ten months later after finding no meaningful improvement.
A Supreme Court-appointed monitoring panel inspected the site again in August 2019 and December 2020—both times reporting the same failures: offal dumped into nearby water bodies, blood discharged into open sewers and foul air settling over surrounding homes.
Veterinary experts warn the site is a breeding ground for E. coli and avian viruses, posing a risk of zoonotic infections. Residents downstream face increased gastrointestinal illnesses, while workers handle birds without gloves or masks, inhaling noxious fumes daily.
“There’s a framework of rules, but rules mean little if every agency looks the other way,” said a senior official of the Delhi Cantonment Board, speaking on condition of anonymity. “Ghazipur sits on public land, pollutes a public drain, and endangers public health. Yet it continues unchecked.”
Waste on wheels
Even disposal is informal. Local recyclers admit they are paid to cart away blood-soaked feathers and guts to an unofficial dump within walking distance. No waste is treated or rendered. During monsoons, the overflowing drain carries the debris into the Yamuna.
Without urgent reforms—be it a closed-loop waste system or even relocation—Ghazipur will continue to feed residents.
Compliance will raise cost: Traders
Traders argue that compliance with the rules would raise costs. Setting up mechanised slaughter lines, effluent-treatment plants and insulated transport would add a few rupees to each kilo of chicken, they say. Retailers fear customers will shift to cheaper sellers.
But who is responsible? Everyone
Responsibility, in the end, is shared and scattered. DAMB owns the land, the DPCC monitors water pollution, the MCD handles solid waste, the veterinary department certifies carcasses and the police manage traffic. Each sends notices, writes reports and passes file along.
