KOCHI: The Kochi Corporation has decided to temporarily shut its only abattoir, located at Kaloor. The decision comes in the wake of the Kerala State Pollution Control Board (PCB) issuing a show-cause notice to the civic body earlier this month. The board had warned of legal action if the slaughterhouse is not shut within 15 days.
Till the slaughterhouse becomes operational again at Kaloor, meat vendors can utilise the Meat Products of India (MPI) facility at Koothattukulam, around 45km away. “The contractor has been told to rectify the violations stated by PCB. Until it’s done, the slaughterhouse will remain closed. Alternative options will be made available in coordination with the MPI,” said Mayor M Anilkumar.
At the same time, the move to shut the abattoir without finding a proper alternative is raising concern among Kochiites.“The absence of a legal slaughterhouse will prompt meat vendors to start illegal slaughtering in the city. Chances are that substandard meat will be sold if the vendors have no alternative,” said UDF councillor M G Aristotle.
A few meat vendors in the city said using the MPI facility will be expensive.“Transporting them for slaughter and then bringing the meat back to the shop for sale will cost a lot. It is impractical,” said a meat vendor.According to PCB officials, the slaughterhouse was operating without any treatment facility and the blood-filled effluent was discharged into the sewer that drains into the Thevara-Perandoor canal, violating the Prevention and Control of Pollution Act of 1974. The biogas plant at the slaughterhouse remains dysfunctional. The abattoir had been functioning in violation of laws for the past several years. Despite several notices by the PCB and the High Court, the steps required were not taken to clear the violations.
“Instead of rectifying the violations pointed out by the PCB at the facility till a modern abattoir is set up, the authorities failed to acknowledge both and landed in a situation where a shutdown became necessary,” Aristotle said. Anilkumar said the corporation has handed over the project to construct a modern slaughterhouse to the Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board (KIIFB).