Mumbai: Issues to Be Addressed by the Bombay Municipal Corporation  

Poor Conditions at Deonar Abattoir

Mumbai’s municipal slaughterhouse, Deonar, has been the subject of complaints for many years for its failure to meet humane, hygiene and legal standards for animal handling and slaughter. See attached report.  

In 2000, Prime Minister Shri Atal Behari Vajpayee directed state governments to enforce India ’s animal protection laws, particularly regarding animal transport and slaughter. Mr Murasoli Maran, the minister of commerce and industry, publicly urged state governments to set up committees to ensure enforcement of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act (PCA), 1960, promising that “surprise inspections of places where cattle are sold and loaded onto trucks” would be conducted. Authorities in Mumbai have also pledged to make necessary improvements at Deonar.

Despite all this, shocking and inhumane conditions persist at the municipal abattoir.  

Rampant Illegal Slaughter

There are hundreds of shops in Mumbai (800, according to one estimate) where illegal slaughter goes unchallenged. These shops are typically concealed in marketplaces with no animal welfare regulation and poor water and drainage facilities.  

They are all around Mumbai and exist in concentrated numbers in Crawford Market, Null Bazaar, Grant Road Market, Dongri Market, Dadasaheb Phalke Road , Lalbaug Market, Near Koliwada Rly. Station, Vi kh roli Rly. Station, Bandra Bazaar and Dharavi.  

The law states that slaughter must occur only in licensed slaughterhouses.  

Improper Waste Disposal

According to an arti cle that appeared in Times Agricultural Journal:

“On an average, Mumbai receives about 2.5-3.0 la kh live birds per day. However, on weekends, this figure easily crosses 3 la kh birds per day. Wastage from a 1.5 kg ‘live bird’ (average weight) is approximately 33 per cent, that is, 495 grams waste per day. If about 3 la kh -plus birds are slaughtered daily, it results in about 148,500 kgs of waste being generated.”

The arti cle continues:

“However, this waste is indiscriminately disposed into our sewerage system daily; the putrefaction results in generation of poisonous gases which have turned our sewerage lines into gas chambers that could explode anytime, emitting gases which could kill people.

“This organic waste also becomes host to innumerable disease carrying bacteria, viruses, etc. in addition to attracting rodents and other scavengers who grow on this waste spreading deadly diseases such as plague.”

Deonar Abattoir also has no adequate waste-removal system.

In its report, a special committee constituted by the Supreme Court in March 1999 to look into the Solid Waste Management in Class I Cities, stated, “Disposal of slaughterhouse waste and carcasses of animals should be done scientifically, following the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) guidelines. This waste should not be mixed with municipal waste. The waste should be converted into useful products by installing a Carcass Utilization Centre (CUC).”  

A Promising Initiative to Follow

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) supports an initiative taken up by the Council for Leather Exports (CLE) that is designed to alleviate some suffering of animals who are used for meat and leather in Tamil Nadu. The CLE, with PETA’s support and Miriam Parker as a consultant, has been working with members of the Tamil Nadu government and meat industry to help bring much-needed reforms.  

Through this collaboration, a pilot project is currently underway in Coimbatore to try to bring necessary reform to the cattle slaughterhouse located there and the animal market at Pollachi. This project involves the following measures:  

·        developing a set of best practices and operational procedures for markets, transporters and slaughterhouses that are acceptable to both PETA and the industries that use animals

·        preparing training materials for animal transporters, handlers and butchers

·        organising a law enforcement team

·        building ramps for animal loading and unloading and water troughs and making other basic improvements in abattoir infrastructure

·        co-ordinating other reforms that will alleviate some suffering of animals, bring organisation to the leather and meat supply chain and help ensure that the meat produced is more hygienic and that the hides and skins are of better quality.  

One worker training session has already been conducted at the Pollachi market, and once construction is complete at the slaughterhouse, training will be held there as well. It is hoped that this project will serve as a model for other locations. It is an initiative that should be replicated in Mumbai.  

Please find annexed the “best practices” developed through the programme (Annexure A).  

Recommendations

The Bombay Municipal Corporation (BMC) should ensure that all animal welfare ordinances, orders, by-laws, rules, regulations, customs and usages – having the force of law by the government and Parliament of India, the government and legislature of Maharastra and all local or other authorities within the territory of India or under the control of the government of India – are adhered to, including on the premises of municipal slaughterhouses. These include but are not limited to:  

·        Chapter III of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960

·        The Transport of Animals Rules, 1978

·        Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Transport of Animals on Foot) Rules, 2001

·        Transport of Animals (Amendment) Rules, 2001

·        Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Slaughter House) Rules, 2001

·        Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Establishment and Regulation of Societies for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) Rules, 2001

·        Local municipal corporation acts  

The BMC should ensure that animals are slaughtered only in recognised, licensed slaughterhouses and should immediately shut down all unauthorised slaughterhouses.  

The BMC should ensure that municipal slaughterhouses adhere to the provisions of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Slaughter House) Rules, 2001.  

The BMC should ensure that responsible and active managers are appointed at municipal slaughterhouses. It should also ensure that these managers are on duty throughout the time that animals are kept at the facilities and particularly during peak operating hours. These managers should be reprimanded in an effective manner should they neglect their duties.  

The BMC should ensure that sufficient numbers of responsible, active veterinarians are appointed and posted to inspect the health of every animal prior to slaughter at municipal slaughterhouses and to inspect meat to ensure that it is suitable for human consumption. It should also be ensured that these veterinarians are on duty throughout the time that animals are kept at the facilities and particularly during peak operating hours. These veterinarians should be reprimanded in an effective manner if they neglect their duties.  

The BMC should ensure that only authorised persons who are at least 18 years of age and are not suffering from any communicable or infectious disease are permitted to be employed in recognised licensed slaughterhouses.  

The BMC should ensure that workers who deal with animals in transport, at the market and at slaughter are provided with adequate equipment to perform their duties safely and hygienically.  

The BMC should ensure that slaughterhouses are equipped with the necessary facilities to dispose of their waste in a manner that does not put workers, animals, the environment or the people living near the slaughterhouse in danger.  

The BMC should adopt the best practices developed via the Coimbatore pilot project to serve as required guidelines and work closely with PETA on this matter. (Please refer to Annexure A.)  

The BMC should require that the training programme developed via the Coimbatore pilot project be made a mandatory requirement for all those working in either animal transport, at animal markets or in municipal slaughterhouses and work closely with PETA on this matter.  

The BMC should ensure that infrastructure for any new slaughterhouse that is built or any existing slaughterhouse that is updated is constructed in a manner that allows for humane animal handling and for the best practices to be adequately followed. The BMC should work closely with PETA on this matter.  

The BMC should invite PETA to act as a key advisor on actions to address and improve the animal welfare problems in the transport, handling and slaughter of animals.
 
Jayasimha N.G 
jayasimhang@petaindia.org
Coordinator-Campaigns & Legal Affairs | People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) India
PO Box 28260 , Juhu, Mumbai 400 049
(22) 26281880 | (22) 26281883 (fax) | PETAIndia.org