Shifting ground: CDA eyes plot in Sector I-8 for slaughterhouse

Shifts site for third time; butchers, traders vow to resist move.

ISLAMABAD:

The capital civic agency has changed the site of a much needed slaughterhouse for a third time in the recent months – this time landing it in the middle of a residential sector.

“A plot suitable for establishment of a slaughterhouse has been lying vacant for many years,” said an official of the authority adding the process of allocation of land at Sector I-8/3 was in progress.

After a significant part of the proposed site measuring 20 acres at Sector H-9/3 near Peshawar More was eaten up by the under-construction Metro Bus Project, the Capital Development Authority (CDA) decided to shift the project from Sector H-9/3 to Sector I-11/4.

When the traders’ community opposed the relocation of project to Sector I-11/4, the authority identified a 13-acre of land in Sector I-8/3 along the IJP Road.

However, the butchers’ community has once again rejected the project site, terming it unfeasible.



“The CDA has been deceiving us for the past three years. Project design and funds have already been approved for establishment of the facility at Sector H-9/3,” said All Pakistan Jamiatul Quresh President Khurshid Qureshi (APJQ) said adding it would force the CDA to continue with the already approved plan rather than going for a new plan at a new site.

Qureshi said on Thursday the butchers’ community had also filed a petition with the Islamabad High Court against unreasonable delay in the execution of the project as well as shifting of the site.

He said the court had sought reply from the CDA over the issue.

On the other hand, a group of traders of the city is up to resist the proposed establishment of slaughterhouse in Islamabad.

In a statement issued here, Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) Chamber of Small Traders President Khalid Mian expressed his reservation over construction of a new slaughterhouse in the middle of city and demanded cancellation of this project.

Mian said there was no need to allocate site as already a slaughterhouse was present in the Humak area to cater to the needs of Islamabad, which is a common property of the  CDA and the Punjab government.

He said the project would be in violation of basic human rights as it would cause stench and pollution in the capital.

He said the slaughter house will require the establishment of fat-melting and bones-processing plants which will spread stink to the surrounding areas.

He said instead of constructing new slaughterhouse the CDA should take back the possession of already established slaughterhouse at Humak.

Qureshi said owing to the absence of proper slaughtering facility, sale of unhygienic and medically unchecked meat was on the rise. “A population of over two million people is consuming meat unfit for human health,” he said adding construction of a slaughterhouse would ensure supply of hygienic meat.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 31^st, 2014.