A Rs 2-crore scheme is being prepared for the facelift of the century-old slaughterhouse in Tangra, state environment minister Manab Mukherjee has said.

The Left Front-led civic board had approached the environment department for funds after a revamp scheme for the slaughterhouse was dropped from the Asian Development Bank-funded Calcutta Environment Improvement Project.

?I have asked the civic body to submit a report. If necessary, the environment department will pitch in with funds,? Mukherjee said.

The minister and mayoral council member (parks and gardens) Faiyaz Ahmed Khan inspected the abattoir, in a densely-populated pocket in east Calcutta, last week.

Both were convinced that it needed to be modernised immediately to preserve the environment of the locality and to ensure that the meat sold from there was not contaminated.

?The slaughterhouse is in an appalling condition. Steps must be taken for its hygienic upkeep,? said mayor Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya.

The state irrigation department had time and again warned the Calcutta Municipal Corporation that the slaughterhouse was a source of pollution.

Blood and parts of animal carcasses flow straight into drainage canals and choke them.

The abattoir had to be closed down for two days a couple of months ago, following contamination in the water mains.

According to mayoral council member Khan, the defining features of the abattoir are clogged drains, worn-out water supply lines, leaky roof and a pervasive stench.

?The area where slaughtered animals are dressed is dirtier than a drain. Had such a unit been run by a private owner, the civic body and the government would have ordered its closure long ago,? he added.

Mayoral council member (health) Subodh De said the civic body operated slaughterhouses in Tangra, Allen Market and Kasaibagan. Among them, the one at Tangra is the biggest. More than 500 cows and buffaloes, and 4,000 sheep and goats are slaughtered there daily.

A move was once afoot to relocate the abattoir in the Bantala Leather Complex. But mayor Bhattacharya is more interested in renovating the structure.