After PMC abattoir sealed over environmental pollution, butchers turn to other alternatives
The issue was raised in the state legislative council by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLC, Yogesh Tilekar, on Thursday, July 3
With the recent closure of the only civic-run slaughterhouse at Kondhwa by the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) over serious violation of pollution control norms, butchers and meat shop owners across the Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad municipal corporation (PMC and PCMC, respectively) areas are left scrambling for alternatives such as abattoirs operated by the Pune Cantonment Board, Khadki Cantonment Board, and one located 120 km from the city at Indapur.
A senior PMC official on request of anonymity said, “Butchers have started taking the help of their peers and getting animals slaughtered at Pune Cantonment Board, Khadki Cantonment Board, and a private abattoir at Indapur. The PMC has as many as 200 meat shop licence- holders. The PMC abattoir in Kondhwa has the capacity to slaughter not more than 70 animals but nearly 150 to 200 animals are slaughtered daily. Half of the animals butchered belong to PCMC- butchers and meat shop owners.”
The issue was raised in the state legislative council by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLC, Yogesh Tilekar, on Thursday, July 3. In response, chief minister Devendra Fadnavis informed that the Kondhwa abattoir had been shut down on July 2 over serious violation of pollution control norms. Fadnavis said that when the MPCB inspected the facility on February 28, 2025 after receiving several complaints from residents about a foul odour and contaminated water emanating from there, effluents were found to exceed permissible limits laid down in the consent conditions.
According to the MPCB, the Kondhwa abattoir was operating far beyond its sanctioned capacity, slaughtering way more animals than permitted, and generating far more waste than its processing capacity. What’s more, the waste and untreated effluents left in the city’s drainage network were flowing into the Mula-Mutha River via the Bhairoba Nalla, officials said.
With no slaughterhouse in Pimpri-Chinchwad for the past 10 years, butchers in Pimpri-Chinchwad were getting animals slaughtered at the civic-run Kondhwa abattoir and the resultant meat transported to them, relying excessively on the PMC abattoir. As a result, the Kondhwa abattoir was overburdened and generating too much waste and effluents, contributing to environmental violations as found by the MPCB.
With the Kondhwa abattoir now sealed, butchers from Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad have been forced to depend on the aforementioned alternatives. As such, the increased distance has added to their logistical challenges, raising concerns about cost, quality control, and timely supply of meat to Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad.
Dr Sarika Funde-Bhosale, chief veterinary officer, PMC, said, “The slaughterhouse is closed and meat shop owners are taking help from other slaughterhouses. However, this cannot be a solution to the issue. We are working on the augmentation of the Kondhwa facility to make it compliant with pollution control norms and getting permission to restart it.”
