THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The corporation has decided to speed up work on the construction of a modern abattoir at Kunnukuzhy. It also decided to conduct inspections at slaughterhouses under its limits to make sure that waste is not dumped on the streets, which is considered a major reason for the rise
in the number of stray dogs.
An online meeting comprising all stakeholders, led by corporation secretary Binu Francis, was held in this regard on Friday. With the setting up of the modern abattoir, illegal slaughterhouses in the city will be closed down. However, as the project is moving at a snail’s pace, the corporation directed the Kerala Electrical and Allied Engineering Company (KEL) to expedite the work so that the abattoir could be operational by the first week of January.
The corporation secretary told TNIE that he had instructed the KEL, the agency to execute the project, and other stakeholders to increase the pace of the work so that the abattoir could be commissioned by January 2023.
“Around 65% of the work has been completed till now. All the machinery related to the project has been brought in. The installation of the machinery is yet to be done and it will take another two months. However, there are some other work including setting up a water tank and an effluent treatment plant need to be completed. It will take one more month. We also need to obtain approval from the Pollution Control Board (PCB) and the Suchitwa Mission before the commissioning. It may take three more months and we expect to commission the abattoir by the first week of January,” he said.
The original completion date for the Rs 10-crore project was April 2022. Since the original contract with the KEL expired on March 31, 2022, it was later renewed. The work is currently being carried out under a subcontract with a Lucknow-based company. Over the past three years, several attempts by the corporation to revive the slaughterhouse have come to a nought after initial enthusiasm.
Earlier, the Kerala State Pollution Control Board had sealed the only authorised slaughterhouse owned by the corporation in 2012 as it did not have proper waste disposal mechanism. Since then, several efforts initiated by the civic body to reopen the abattoir have failed, leading to the mushrooming of illegal outlets in the capital. The officials close to the project also admitted that there was some delay in the work due to the pandemic and manpower shortage.
Rs 10 crore for slaughterhouse