Four years after the closing down of the Corporation’s slaughterhouse
at Kunnukuzhy on February 2013 due to unscientific waste management
practices, yet another revival plan is now afoot to build a modern
slaughterhouse in its place.

The Detailed Project Report (DPR)
submitted by the local body has now been approved, paving the way for
the tendering process. “The project could now be executed only with
funds of around Rs. 30 crore. The State government has agreed to provide
a share of Rs. 20 crore. The rest will be from the Corporation’s plan
fund. We will soon issue the call for a global tender. If everything
goes fine, this time the project will be a reality,” says K. Sreekumar,
Chairman of the Corporation’s Health Standing Committee.

As
per the DPR, the proposed modern slaughterhouse will focus on producing
value-added products. The whole set-up will include a meat processing
unit, an effluent treatment plant, and a biogas plant. As per the
Ministry of Food Processing Industries guidelines, the modernised
slaughterhouse should include all machinery required for various
slaughter operations, including overhead rails, conveyors, and shackles.
Technical civil work should also include a cold storage, a power supply
system and facilities such as rainwater harvesting.

During the
last phase of the previous council, the Corporation was in talks with
five private companies for the setting up a modern abattoir. Due to the
costs involved, a private-public partnership project was proposed.
However, this had failed to take off, as no agreement could be arrived
at.