Livestock trade licenses to be issued from Thursday
Thursday, 18 December 2008, 23:40 IST
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New Delhi: The capital's primary civic agency, Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), will start issuing livestock trading licenses to traders from Thursday at the newly operational Ghazipur Slaughter House. The much-delayed and controversial abattoir in east Delhi, had drawn flak for its operational capacity from the Supreme Court before it finally opened for operations in September 2008. "Licensing begins Thursday. The functioning of live stock market will encourage traders and butchers to use the Ghazipur slaughter house," said MCD spokesperson Deep Mathur. "Delhi is main centre for traders and shopkeepers of the national capital region like Noida, Gurgoan, Faridabad, Ghaziabad, Ballabgarh and Sonipat for sheep and goats as well as for buffaloes in Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. The animal market is still functional at Idgah but is proposed to be closed soon," Mathur added. As per the civic body's plans, the 200-year-old slaughter house at Idgah in central Delhi, that served as the primary slaughter house earlier, would now be shut down and the slaughtering activities would shift to the hi-tech Ghazipur abbatoir in east Delhi to curtail the problem of illegal and unhygienic slaughtering. The MCD has also proposed providing vehicles from Idgah to Ghazipur for transporting livestock as well as traders and butchers. "This facility is being provided by the MCD free of cost to encourage traders and butchers to carry out their business at the newly built Ghazipur slaughter house," Mathur said. Counted as one of the major projects undertaken by the civic body, the Ghazipur abattoir was also mired in controversy over its ability to meet the high demand for meat in the capital. The animal capacity of the slaughterhouse has been finally revised to about 10,000 per day compared to the 2,500 estimated at the time of its construction. "Today (Wednesday), 517 animals were butchered as opposed to Dec 10 when the Jhatka (swift killing) section was made operational when only three animals were slaughtered. So the number is rising." Mathur said.
Source: IANS
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