Odisha State Pollution Control Board. Telegraph picture

Bhubaneswar, Dec. 4: The Odisha State Pollution Control Board will initiate action against unauthorised meat shops that butcher animals in public view.

This was decided at a meeting of the State Committee for Slaughterhouses held here recently. The committee, comprising of officials of the pollution control board, the municipal corporations and the housing and urban development department, is entrusted to implement the guidelines set by the apex court to deal with slaughterhouses in the country.

The committee also requested the OSPCB to take stringent actions against illegal slaughterhouses. In the first phase, a special drive would be initiated in five major cities of the state. The cities are Cuttack, Bhubaneswar, Berhampur, Rourkela and Sambalpur.

The housing and urban development department has also asked the urban local bodies to furnish the details of slaughterhouses operating in their respective areas and ensure that the slaughterhouses are being registered according to the provisions of the Municipality Act. Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation has one slaughterhouse at Meherpalli, but the abattoir has not been functioning properly. Another proposed modern slaughterhouse at Gadakana is yet to be materialised. As a result of this, animals are being butchered in full public view.

Wildlife activists have been demanding to stop the practice of open butchering of animals. “It has been long since the corporation has proposed to set up a modern slaughterhouse in the city. But nothing has been done so far, which has led to open slaughtering of animals,” said secretary of People for Animal Sanjib Kumar Das.

Corporation officials said that the mechanism to check the quality of meat was almost absent in the city. “We do not have a full-fledged food inspector who will inspect the quality of meat sold in open market. Though we are ready to set up the new modern slaughterhouse in the city, we need an expert to examine the hygiene standards,” said an official.