Cuttack, Dec. 31: It has been more than two years since the Orissa High Court had ordered the setting up slaughter houses to stop that slaughter of goats and sheep on the roadside. However, the Cuttack Municipal Corporation (CMC) has made tardy progress on this front.

The civic body was expected to immediately set up a big slaughter house at Matagajpur and smaller slaughter houses at Gandhipalli, Matamatha, Khannagar and Sati Chaura areas of the city.

On September 25, 2008 the high court had asked the district administration to provide land at Matagajpur and directed CMC “to construct and complete the slaughter house over the land within a period of three months from the date of handing over of possession”.

However, not a single brick had been laid for the construction of the big slaughter house and one small slaughter house as yet, while another small slaughter house is yet to become functional.

The court had warned: “The order is peremptory in nature and should be complied with within the time granted, failing which, this court will take serious view of the matter.”

CMC officials plead that work on construction of the big slaughter house could not be taken up for more than a year owing to delay in their receiving the land. Subsequently, work could not be taken up on the allotted land following stiff opposition from local residents. The district administration had provided one acre of land for the purpose at Kantilo in Matagajpur area on the eastern fringe of the city.

“As coming up with the desired big slaughter house at Matagajpur was not possible, we have been trying to identify an alternative site for it. We hope to complete the process soon,” CMC’s city health officer N.C. Raj told The Telegraph.

But the civic body had also failed to make the desired progress in construction of the four smaller slaughter houses. While construction work had been completed at Sati Chauram Gandhipalli and Khapuria (in place of Khannagar), the one at Satichaura was yet to become functional.

“We are also searching for an alternative site for the small slaughter house proposed at Matamatha as the tourism department had raised objections on the ground that it was close to a tourist spot on the banks of the Mahanadi,” Raj said.

and hoped that the Satichaura slaughter house would become functional soon.

The high court had issued the order after taking a strong note of the fact that roadside butcheries were functioning in the city despite repeated directives for ensuring their closure.

“But periodic raids by the civic body’s health wing officials has apparently succeeded to a large extent in stopping butcheries from functioning along the roadsides across the city,” said Saumendra Mishra (50), a resident of Biju Patnaik Chak area.