THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Corporation-owned abattoir at Kunnukuzhy, the only authorised abattoir in the state capital, remains a blot on the LDF-led ruling front.
The slaughter house, which was the only source for safe meat, was shut down during the current tenure.
The Pollution Control Board (PCB) sealed the slaughter house in 2012 for not having a proper waste disposal mechanism.
Over three years have passed by but the ruling front has nlt made any concrete effort to reopen the abattoir.
Though efforts were made to revamp the abattoir under the PPP mode, the initiative never took off.
The Central government had sanctioned a whopping '15 crores for setting up a modern abattoir but the civic body failed to claim the funds, and now it has lapsed.
Mayor K Chandrika said that the civic body operated the slaughter house properly. “The closure of the abattoir was a political one. MLA M A Vahid resides close to the slaughter house and he wanted the facility to be shut down. The 10 lakh population in the state capital is at the receiving end because of the closure of the abattoir. We are unable to control illegal slaughtering now,” said the Mayor.
According to rough estimates, around 20,000 kg beef and 2640 kg mutton is being consumed daily in the state capital.
The Mayor said that the current council could not launch the modern abattoir project.
“We almost finalised the project and expression of interest was invited and we were about to sign the memorandum of understanding (MoU). But unfortunately owing to fund shortage we could not go ahead with the project,” she added.
The Mayor said that the fund earmarked by the previous government at the Centre was scrapped by the BJP government.
“We have decided to execute the project using the plan fund. The project is estimated to cost around Rs 15 crores. The new council will be able to immediately execute the project,” she added.
