THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The city corporation’s long-awaited project to set up a modern abattoir at Kunnukuzhy to ensure the availability of safe meat continues to be in limbo. Earlier, the Kerala State Pollution Control Board had sealed the only authorised slaughterhouse owned by the corporation in 2012 as it did not have a 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.
Though the corporation had brought in the Kerala Electrical and Allied Engineering Company (KEL) to execute the slaughterhouse project, nothing positive has happened so far. At present, the company has given a sub-contract to a Lucknow-based company. The corporation had planned to open the modern abattoir,at `10 crore, in April, 2022. However, it is unlikely to open on schedule due to the slowness of the revamping activities.
“Machines are yet to be installed there and much work remains to be done. A modern slaughterhouse in Thiruvananthapuram is the need of the hour as many illegal slaughterhouses are coming up at various places. So the corporation should do something about it as we can’t play with the health of the people,” said Sunil Padmanabhan, a local resident.
Over the past three years, several attempts by the corporation to revive the slaughterhouse have petered out after initial enthusiasm. Meanwhile, Bindu Jasmine, the executive engineer of the corporation, told TNIE that 40% of the work has been completed but machinery needs to be installed.
“Efforts are on to reopen the slaughterhouse in April or May. The key part is the installation of the necessary machinery. Since it needs to be procured from other states, it will take time. But civil works are progressing at a fast pace and the machinery will be installed as soon as possible,” she said.
Bindu also admitted that there was some delay in work due to the pandemic and an absence of sufficient workers. “The contract for the work will end on March 31, 2022. So the machinery installation will be done around the same time,” the executive engineer added. Earlier, the expression of interest invited by the corporation to set up the abattoir in 2019 had no takers. The civic body went for a re-tender as there was only one bidder.
Rs 10-crore project