Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru (SP)

Mangaluru, Oct 23: It is said that the slaughterhouse, for the development of which Rs 15 crore has been set aside out of Smart City project fund at the instance of minister, U T Khader, does not have a valid licence and Karnataka State Pollution Control Board had ordered for its closure long back.

As per information, based on complaint received from locals, Nagarika Hitarakshana Samiti and Animal Welfare Organization, citing absence of proper system to handle waste in the slaughterhouse, the board had ordered its closure in the year 2006. Since then, the board has not permitted the slaughterhouse to be run here.

The board had ordered the slaughterhouse to be shifted to Pachchanadi and set deadline. Thereafter, the slaughterhouse is being run on the basis of affidavits . As against the standard area of 2.5 acres for setting up slaughterhouse, the one at Kudroli is located in just 50 cents land and the entire slaughterhouse is filled with bones and skeletal remains. The polluted water was being released into river Falguni. Therefore, the board had ordered its closure, it is learnt. Under these circumstances, doubts have arisen about the legality of the fund set aside for the slaughterhouse.

It is gathered that the then city corporation commissioner had submitted an action plan when the slaughter house was ordered to be closed in 2006 asper which it was to be shifted to Kannur in the city outskirts and then to Kannagudde. However, this action plan has remained on paper.

Several people including Nagarika Hitarakshana Samiti president, Hanumanth Kamath, have expressed themselves against continuing the slaughterhouse at Kudroli and sanctioning grants to it. They said that shifting it to a spacious plot in the city outskirts is highly advisable.