BHUBANESWAR: The urban local bodies (ULB) and municipalities across the State have been instructed by the Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Department to identify unauthorised slaughterhouses so that immediate action can be taken for their closure.
Orissa High Court (HC) has taken a strong stand against open slaughterhouses and instructed the civic bodies, time and again, to remove those from public view. This time, the HC has given the ULBs and municipalities May 19 deadline to submit a list of unauthorised slaughterhouses and action taken by them for closure of such units.
As many as 29 ULBs have submitted details on unauthorised slaughterhouses till date. Earlier, the Department had given time till December 27, 2013 to submit the details. But many ULBs and some municipalities failed to do so.
The Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) has proposed to construct a modern abattoir at Gadakana.
Sources in BMC said despite repeated orders from the HC, work on the abattoir has been moving at a snail’s pace. The fully-mechanised abattoir is expected to minimise use of manual labour and provide processed products.
The new abattoir will replace the existing roadside slaughterhouses in the city.
As per the proposal, abattoirs were supposed to come up at four locations, but legal problems have halted the progress. BMC’s Additional Commissioner KP Pati said of the four locations, land in two has been acquired. The Corporation was facing problems in getting possession of land in the rest two locations.
All the ULBs have also been asked to provide their detailed project report (DPR) for construction of modern abattoirs.
The Odisha Urban Infrastructure Development Fund (OUIDF) is expected to sanction funds for this project.