Cow brigade targets abattoir

Visakhapatnam: After the People for Cattle in India (PFCI), a Chennai-based NGO,  approached the National Green Tribunal over the alleged violations in setting up a modern slaughterhouse in Visakhapatnam, now it is the turn of the right wing outfits to join the fray. Inauguration of the abattoir by Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu originally scheduled to be held on June 23, had to be postponed after the PFCI went to the NGT and the case is still pending with the NGT.

Forming a Joint Action Committee, city units of various right wing outfits started their efforts to prevent it from being launched. They claimed that there is a possibility of slaughtering of cows and other dairy cattle breed at the abattoir in the guise of buffaloes and goats. Arun Prasanna G., secretary of the People for Cattle in India, who approached the NGT, said, “The Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation's (GVMC) master plans depicts the site of the abattoir as a water body. Encroaching water bodies led to floods last year in Chennai and the abattoir is under a similar threat by constructing a building on a water body. What is the need for the GVMC to supply 6.4 lakh litres of water per day for meat processing against the interest of the people of Vizag city, which has been already reeling from severe water crisis? Moreover, the abattoirs are classified as a red category polluting body, causing severe harm to the environment.”  

Located at Marikavalasa and said to be the third largest slaughter house in India, about 2000 sheep/ goats and 500 buffaloes are said to be slaughtered at the abattoir on a daily basis. The Pyramid Spiritual Society, Viswa Hindu Parishad, Rajasthan Vipra Welfare Association, Marwari Yuva Manch, Sri Vishnu Seva Sangh, Sri Visakha Jain Dadawadi Sangh, Mahavir International, Govardhanagiri Gosala and AP Gosamrakshana Samakhya formed into the JAC.

Speaking to this correspondent, M.S. Kumar, a representative of the JAC    who submitted a representation to the district collector, explained, “It poses a threat to the environment on all fronts and making people prone to a variety of diseases. We demand the government to relocate the abattoir. We are even ready to launch an indefinite hunger strike.”