Ghazipur abattoir: Story of missed deadlines, controversies

The Supreme Court directed the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) in 2004 to construct a modern slaughterhouse in the city to replace the Idgah slaughterhouse, which is over 100 years old, to put an end to manual slaughtering, reports Neelam Pandey.

It started nearly five years ago.

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The Supreme Court directed the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) in 2004 to construct a modern slaughterhouse in the city to replace the Idgah slaughterhouse, which is over 100 years old, to put an end to manual slaughtering.

It took the civic agency nearly four years to construct the abattoir at Ghazipur and it is yet to make it fully operational.

Several deadlines were missed. When the construction of the slaughterhouse could not be completed by 2005, the deadline was shifted to June 2006. The civic body was unable to meet this deadline too. The jhatka section of the abattoir finally became operational in 2008.

More than Rs. 132 crore was spent on constructing this abattoir when the original cost of it was Rs. 65 crore.

The Ghazipur slaughterhouse was termed as a one-time solution to illegal slaughtering.

The slaughterhouse is yet to be completely functional and the problem of illegal slaughtering continues. There’s a huge gap between the number of animals slaughtered at the Idgah slaughterhouse and the city's demand of meat.

The Idgah slaughterhouse could slaughter only 2,500 animals per day against the demand of 20,000 animals approximately.

“We are happy that a modern slaughterhouse has been constructed, but the facilities are missing,” said Tehseem Queresh, who deals in livestock. “As it is on the periphery of the city, it is impossible for us to commute daily. And then there is this foul smell coming from the garbage dump.”