E-Paper
PCB to shutdown slaughter house, butchers ask to reconsider decision
The Pune Cantonment Board-run abattoir will be permanently shut down due to financial issues and a manpower shortage, with services redirected to a nearby abattoir operated by the Pune Municipal Corporation. The decision has been objected to by the cantonment butchers' association, who claim it will have a negative impact on their finances. The association has petitioned the court to postpone the decision.
Due to a perilous financial situation and a severe manpower shortage, the Pune Cantonment Board (PCB)-run decades-old abattoir will be permanently shut down from July 10, 2023. However, the cantonment butchers’ association has objected to the decision, claiming that it will have a negative influence on their finances and may force them to cease operations. The butchers had petitioned the court to postpone the cantonment board’s decision.
The PCB decided to stop municipal services of slaughtering animals at the cantonment abattoir and redirect them to the nearby Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) operated abattoir.
“The transportation of the slaughtered animals will be carried out by the stall holders at their own cost to the stalls. The slaughtering of the animals will be discontinued from Monday, July 10, 2023” the resolution dated January 2, 2023, signed by CEO Subrat Pal stated.
On January 13, CEO Pal wrote to then-PMC health department chief Dr Ashish Bharati, saying, “Due to PCB’s precarious financial situation and acute shortage of staff, the board in its meeting deliberated the possibility that can be explored to close the PCB abattoir and the same came to be diverted to the immediate adjacent abattoir at Kondhwa which will not only reduce the cost of its maintenance but deployed the staff can also be utilised in some establishment of the board. In light of the foregoing, it is requested that the PMC provide the office with its opinions on the matter and advise the office whether the option of diverting PCB slaughtering can be accommodated in the PMC abattoir.”
Reacting to the development, the president of Cantonment Butchers Association and All India Jamiatul Quresh Action Committee, Hasan Qureshi said, “The PCB did not take us into confidence before making this decision.” The PMC abattoir is already congested and is being privatised, which will increase costs. We currently had to pay ₹280 to the cantonment, which would now be increased to ₹1000 as slaughter charges per animal. The PCB’s decision must be reconsidered, and we must be allowed to butcher animals. We are prepared to operate the cantonment abattoir by making the relevant payments to the board. The board must not do the butcher community an injustice by making this illogical decision.”
