The city will have two more slaughter houses as the Coimbatore Corporation has decided to increase the number to meet the growing demand.
According to Corporation Commissioner G. Latha, the civic body decided to go in for two modern abattoirs as the existing ones did not have the necessary infrastructure and the number was inadequate.
To kick-start the process of constructing the modern slaughter houses, the Corporation will soon begin preparing detailed project reports. The Corporation will use one of the two proposed abattoirs for slaughtering small animals and the other for big animals. Once the reports were ready, the Corporation would submit the same to the National Meat and Poultry Processing Board, a Central Government agency, for funds.
Ms. Latha said that the decision to increase the number of slaughter houses and also build modern ones came after a team of officials she led attended a meeting the Board had organised in Hyderabad, a few days ago.
The proposed abattoir for smaller animals would have the capacity to slaughter 3,000 animals-a-day and the one for bigger animals would slaughter 300 animals-a-day.
The entire process would be mechanised to the extent that the meat or beef produced there could be sent for processing and export, said Corporation Zoo Director K. Asokan.
He was a member of the team that went to Hyderabad.
Aside from constructing two slaughter houses, the Corporation would improve the existing four abattoirs. Of the four, the ones in Podanur and Singanallur needed serious improvements as they were short of infrastructure facilities and water.
As and when the Corporation readied the four and built the two modern abattoirs, it would be able to more effectively ensure that the meat or beef produced in the city was hygienic. But, it would be still short of the required eight slaughter houses for the city with a little over 16 lakh population.
A Corporation report said that 19,700 tonne beef and 1,065 tonne mutton were produced and sold through 5,000 shops in 2013 in the city.
