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EDMC issues order to shut Ghazipur slaughterhouse
New Delhi: The East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC) on Tuesday issued an order to shut the Ghazipur slaughterhouse — the national Capital’s only legal facility
New Delhi: The East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC) on Tuesday issued an order to shut the Ghazipur slaughterhouse — the national Capital’s only legal facility to butcher buffaloes, sheep and goats. The slaughter of poultry and fish is permitted elsewhere in the city.
This has been done to “restrict close proximity of human involvement in compliance with guidelines to control and contain Covid-19,” the order issued by the corporation to the private company that runs the 25-acre facility near NH-24, read. The slaughterhouse delivers over four lakh kilograms of meat daily, under an agreement with the east civic body.
“At least 500 butchers and supervisors work here, whose health would have been at risk if the facility continued to run. This is not related to any scare regarding transmission of the Coronavirus infection from humans to animal meat or vice versa, at all. Alongside, the livestock market in the slaughterhouse premises has also been closed for now,” spokesperson, EDMC, Arun Kumar, said. The facility will stay closed until further order, he added.
A stakeholder in the private company, however, said the order does not conform with guidelines set out by both the state and central governments.
“The Delhi and union government notifications say that selling meat, dairy and poultry is allowed in the city. But where will supply to the shops come from if the Ghazipur slaughterhouse is closed? As far as WHO [World Health Organization] standards on hygiene and sanitation of the staff are concerned, we are already taking care of it,” Fauzan Alavi, a director with the company, Frigorifico Allana, said.
“Besides, this is a basic food product for a large section of Delhi’s population. They will obviously not change their food habits overnight for the next 21 days,” he said.
EDMC officials said that while the union government order talks about keeping “meat shops” open, the slaughterhouse is a large space that has a complex web of activities. “Between so many people [the staff], it is impossible to maintain a one-metre-distance. We cannot take a chance,” Kumar said.
The slaughterhouse produces about two lakh kilogram buffalo meat and 80,000kg of sheep and goat meat for domestic consumption in Delhi in two shifts during the day. Besides, it produces another about one lakh kilogram of buffalo meat and 60,000kg of sheep and goat meat for export, primarily to Gulf countries.
Senior veterinary officers of the corporation said they had other reasons to shut the slaughterhouse as well.
“Most of the animals processed here would come from neighbouring States, like sheep and goat from Rajasthan, and buffaloes from Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Punjab. These are unproductive animals, such as infertile or non milk-producing buffaloes. Since inter-state movement has been banned, the feed to the slaughterhouse will reduce from now,” said a senior officer with EDMC who did not wish to be named.
“Besides, some animals would come to us from the 10 legal dairy farms of Delhi — Kakrola, Goela, Nangli, Jharoda, Bhalaswa, Gharoli, Ghazipur, Shahbad, Madanpur and Masoodpur. These will also thin out as people just can’t travel or find commercial transportation to move goods and livestock anymore,” he said.
