Thiruvananthapuram: While the city continues to reel under the crisis of being served unhygienic meat, the plans to reopen city abattoir continues to be stuck in red-tapism with the government rejecting the multiple plans put forth by the city council, labeling them pricey. The corporation's efforts to raise funds from KIFB (Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board) have also not met with success.
The city abattoir was closed down in 2012 by the Pollution Control Board due to its poor waste management system. Since then, the seizure of stale red meat in the city has become a regular affair. The corporation in 2016 prepared a detailed project report (DPR) for a Rs 25 crore abattoir in consultation with Veterinary College, Pookkode. The facility was expected to be able to slaughter up to 100 cattle and 300 goats a day. This was scaled down later to attract funds. However, has remained a non-starter till now. At present, cattle from other states are taken to illegal abattoirs one by one without undergoing a check-up for diseases by a veterinarian.
Corporation officials said that the Kerala State Suchitwa Mission has been requested to come up with a new DPR to build a smaller facility. "A centralised abattoir was a good idea when the city was smaller. Now, it makes more sense to come up with many smaller abattoirs. So Kunnukuzhy abattoir will be a minimalistic one," said a senior councillor and health standing committee member. At the time of its closure, the abattoir used to send out around 800kg meat to the city. The present plan is to reopen an abattoir which has around the same capacity.
