Will Idgah abattoir make way for mall?

If the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) has its way, Idgah slaughterhouse might make way for a swanky mall.

If the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) has its way, Idgah slaughterhouse might make way for a swanky mall.

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The civic agency will shift the halal section of the slaughterhouse, located near Karol Bagh and Paharganj, to Ghazipur on Thursday.

“The buffalo section will be shifted on October 29. Once the land is vacated we might explore the possibility of creating a mall and a multi-level underground parking on the land, which will benefit the residents. A detailed proposal will be made regarding it,” said MCD commissioner K.S. Mehra.

However, butchers at the slaughterhouse are apprehensive of shifting to Ghazipur.

“Though the jhatka section became operational last December, only 80-100 animals are slaughtered every day. The place is too small to cater to the city’s demand,” said Mohammed Asif, Delhi Meat Merchant Association president.

“The MCD claims to slaughter 5,000 animals per day but in reality it is only 1,000 animals — which is insufficient,” he added.

The Idgah slaughterhouse sprawls over an area of nine acres.

Recently, leader of the MCD House Subhash Arya had requested the municipal commissioner to postpone the plan to shift the Idgah slaughterhouse by about a month in view of the upcoming Bakr-Eid in the third week of November.

In an order, the Supreme Court had asked all meat sellers to move out of the old, unhygienic Idgah abattoir to the modern facility in Ghazipur.

“Once the Idgah slaughterhouse is shut down, all slaughters will take place at Ghazipur. We plan to lease it out to a private party to run it,” said a senior MCD official.

Earlier, the civic agency had said it would make chilling plants and buy refrigerated vans for transporting meat to all parts of the city from Ghazipur.

Plans were also made to develop a software by which each slaughtered animal could be identified by microchips.