The Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) on Friday said the condition of the existing slaughterhouse in Perambur was ‘very pathetic’ and blamed the Chennai Corporation for the delay in commissioning the modern abattoir constructed recently.
K. Karthikeyan, joint chief of environmental engineering of TNPCB, made this submission in a reply affidavit filed before the National Green Tribunal, Southern Bench, which heard a petition filed by G. Arun Prasanna, trustee of People for Cattle in India, that sought to ban illegal slaughtering.
The TNPCB official said the modernisation of the existing abattoir in Perambur had been carried out by Hind Agro Industries Limited under the design-build-operate-transfer system. ‘Consent to operate’ had been issued to the slaughterhouse.
However, during an inspection last month, the modern slaughterhouse was found to be unoccupied while slaughtering continued in the conventional ‘unhygienic’ manner, said the TNPCB.
The TNPCB official said, “In the existing house, slaughtering of animals is done on the floor and there are no arrangements for collecting blood, offal. Solid and liquid wastes are discharged into the sewer line and stormwater drain, located at the entrance, which run into Buckingham Canal.”
“The butchers also indulge in practices inimical to the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act and rules and regulations of Food Safety and Standards Act, and supply unhygienic meat to customers,” said TNPCB.
The TNPCB official said despite issuing show-cause notice to the Corporation, for discharge of untreated effluents from its slaughterhouse in Perambur, the civic body had not furnished a reply.
TNPCB also said such notices were issued to the Corporation for discharge of effluents from slaughterhouses in Saidapet and Villivakkam in 2012. The deputy commissioner informed TNPCB that action had been taken to rectify the defects in the effluent treatment plants installed in those facilities. Necessary orders would be issued to the Chennai Corporation for compliance.
The Bench, comprising its judicial member, Justice M. Chockalingam, and expert member, Prof. R. Nagendran, expressed dissatisfaction with the reply filed by the Chennai Corporation and directed its counsel to file a detailed reply in the next hearing.
The Perambur slaughterhouse has been modernised but slaughtering continues in the old facility
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