The Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) is considering the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike’s (BBMP) proposal to establish state-of-the-art abattoirs in the city. This comes close on the heels of the KSPCB issuing closure notices to the two old abattoirs, one on Tannery Road and the other on Usman Road near K.R. Market.
Confirming the development, a senior KSPCB official told The Hindu that the board had issued closure notices nearly a month ago after noticing that animal waste was being let into the stormwater drains, instead of being sent to effluent treatment plants (ETPs).
Checking pollution
The official said that the notice was issued to the abattoir on Tannery Road following a direction from the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) for failure to have in place necessary equipment to check pollution. In the case of the abattoir near K.R. Market, the notice was issued since the BBMP had failed to adhere to the directions of the National Green Tribunal, as per which no untreated effluents could be let into the drains.
Soon after receiving the notices, civic chief Gaurav Gupta wrote to the KSPCB, urging the board to reconsider the closure notices. “The complete closure of the two major abattoirs would create more chaos, as it would give room to illegal slaughter. This would have been difficult to control and regulate,” he told The Hindu.
After assuring that the animal waste would be collected and sent to ETPs for processing, the abattoirs have been allowed to function, albeit in a scaled down manner.
A KSPCB official confirmed this and stated that there has so far been no effluent discharge into the drains outside the abattoirs. “The BBMP has been cooperative. We have directed marshals to keep a watch,” the official said.
Senior civic officials said that the issue of untreated effluents being let into the drains came to fore during the regular review of the K-100 project, under which the raja kaluve connecting the heart of the city to Bellandur is being developed as a citizens’ water way. “The waste was reaching the Bellandur lake. The KSPCB noticed this and slapped closure notices,” an official said.
Meanwhile, the proposal to set up a state-of-the-art abattoir at Harohalli is still pending. The proposal mooted several years ago is still pending following stiff opposition from the local communities.
