The Hindu 30.11.2013
Civic agencies in Chennai told to act against illegal slaughtering
The National Green Tribunal, Southern Bench, on
Thursday, directed the Chennai Corporation and Tamil Nadu Pollution
Control Board (TNPCB) to take immediate action to stop illegal
slaughtering in the city.
The Bench passed the
interim order on an application filed by People for Cattle in India
represented by its trustee, G. Arun Prasanna, who sought to ban illegal
slaughterhouses.
TNPCB
In
his application, Mr. Prasanna listed around 20 places in the city where
illegal slaughtering took place. In someareas of the city, the illegal
activity had been taking place adjacent to meat shops. Such acts caused
severe damage tothe environment, he said.
Infected cattle
“The
entire act of slaughtering affects the environment as it is happening
in places which are not approved and which neither have proper waste
treatment plants nor freezer facilities. Such places are unhygienic and
slaughtering of infected cattle was done without knowledge,” he said.
The
animal welfare organisation said the authorities had been careless and
negligent, failing to take any kind of action to avert damage caused due
to illegal slaughtering.When the matter came up for hearing before the
Bench on Thursday, Kaushik Narain Sharma, counsel for the applicant,
requested the Tribunal to pass an interim order to ban illegal
slaughterhouses.
Activists
He also said, activists had found, as per a recent survey, illegal slaughtering was happening in 55 places in the city.
The
Bench, comprising its judicial member, Justice M. Chockalingam, and
expert member, R. Nagendran, said, “There is no impediment felt by the
Tribunal to issue direction to the Chennai Corporation and TNPCB to take
immediate action and also steps to stop illegal slaughtering in the
city of Chennai.”
Stressing that punitive action must
be initiated against the violators, the Bench directed the authorities
of the Corporationand TNPCB to file reports in the next hearing
on December 12.
The animal welfare activist also
argued that as per information provided by the district environmental
engineer (DEE), Chennai, the Corporation’s slaughterhouses in Saidapet,
Villivakkam and Pulianthope were illegal. The DEE had issued show-cause
notices to them.
Corporation slaughterhouses in Saidapet, Villivakkam and Pulianthope were found to be illegal