Illegal shops, abattoirs mushrooming in city, says audit report

Illegal shops and slaughter houses are proliferating in the city.

From five-star hotels to super markets, food malls and bakeries, a large number of commercial establishments are operating in the city without obtaining the statutory licence to Dangerous and Offensive Trades and, Factories from the civic administrators. A report of the Local Fund Audit wing of the State government shows a list of 43 such units. This includes two luxury hotels on Willingdon Island and Fort Kochi and a supermarket in Ernakulam North.

The auditors have pulled up the officials for not responding to three consecutive notes regarding the illegal functioning of the shops in the city, the report said.

The civic authority also failed to ensure that the shops that had obtained the licences earlier renewed them on time. It was the responsibility of the officials of the Health Wing of the local body to ensure that the shops are functioning after obtaining the mandatory licence. “The local body has sustained huge revenue loss on this account,” the auditors said.

Illegal slaughtering

The auditors have put on record the thriving illegal slaughtering of animals for meat in the city. The Kerala Municipalities Act has banned the slaughtering of animals outside the licensed abattoirs.

The abattoir of the Kochi Corporation, which was functioning at Kaloor, had not obtained the licence from the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India, it was reported.