Slaughterhouse closure hits 500 families in Indore

More than 500 families dependent on a slaughterhouse in Indore that was shut down by the city’s civic authorities have become jobless, meat traders said on Thursday.

More than 500 families dependent on a slaughterhouse in Indore that was shut down by the city’s civic authorities have become jobless, meat traders said on Thursday.

The-civic-body-shut-the-Nipania-slaughterhouse-in-Indore-following-a-pollution-control-board-s-notice-last-month-Shankar-Mourya-HT-photo

The slaughterhouse at Nipania was shut down by the Indore Municipal Corporation earlier last month.

Following complaints from residents, the Bhopal high court had directed the Madhya Pradesh Pollution Control Board (MPPCB) to inspect abattoirs in the city.

The board had conducted a survey and submitted a report before the court, saying that the facilities were polluting the neighbourhood. It had also had recommended shifting the slaughterhouses away from city limits.

"There are more than 500 butcher families whose livelihoods depend on the meat retailing business, who have become jobless," said Yakub Khan, a member of Malwa beef retailers' association.

Each butcher family use to earn between Rs 2,000 and Rs 2,500 per day from the business, he said.

"We will submit a memorandum to the divisional commissioner on Friday seeking justice and reinstating our livelihood," he added.

The corporation shut down the slaughterhouse on March 26. However, facilities at Juni Indore and Gaffur Khan ki Bajariya near Khajuri bazaar are still operational, said Mohamed Rafiq Qureshi, the president of the association.

He said the IMC has shut down the slaughterhouses without any intimation. Qureshi said the slaughterhouses, which used to operate illegally, were regularised in 1996.

"The district administration and the corporation allocated us a plot in Nipania where we constructed the slaughterhouse," he said.

Later, in 2004, a private school came up near the premises and slowly people started to move into the neighbourhood, he added.

Report effect

The slaughterhouse at Nipania was shut down by the Indore Municipal Corporation last month

The pollution control board’s report said the facilities were polluting the neighbourhood

The board had recommended shifting the slaughterhouses away from city limits

Each butcher family use to earn between Rs 2,000 and Rs 2,500 per day from the business