Source : The Business Line Date : 11.03.2009

Rs 65-cr modern abattoir coming up in Chennai

M. Ramesh

Chennai, March 10 Anybody who has walked through the slaughterhouse at Perumbudur (or, for that matter, those at Vyasarpadi or Pulianthope) knows the scene is gory.

Animals, bound at the limbs, are slit ear-to-ear and they die kicking and groaning as blood (and life) oozes out. The area stinks with sticky blood and rotting carcasses. The only revellers there are the flies that swarm in millions. “If you visit the place, you will never eat meat again,” observes Mr Rajesh Lakhoni, Commissioner of the Corporation of Chennai.

But all that is set to change. Next week, the corporation will sign the formal agreement with the Aligarh-based Hind Agro Industries Ltd, for a new, modern abattoir at Perumbudur.

PPP model

Hind Agro will invest Rs 65 crore for putting up the facility, which will be run on a public-private partnership (PPP) model. That means, Hind Agro will run two shifts — one for the corporation and the other for itself. In the first shift (the “service shift”) it will slaughter animals for butchers in the neighbourhood, for a nominal fee — Rs 10 for a buffalo or cow and Rs 3.5 for sheep or goat.

“No butcher or retailer in the area will lose his livelihood because of us,” says Dr Surendra Kumar Ranjan, Director, Hind Agro.

The abattoir will be set up in 18 months and will have two lines, one for killing buffaloes and the other for sheep.