RAWALPINDI, March 9: Machinery worth millions of rupees is gathering dust at the slaughterhouse in Sihala due to non-utilisation. It has been learnt that about 80 per cent of the butchers in the twin cities do not utilise the facility and slaughter their animals at open places.

The slaughterhouse, established in 1966, is jointly operated by the Capital Development Authority, the Rawalpindi Cantonment Board and the City District Government Rawalpindi.

The abattoir was constructed by a Yugoslavian company at a cost of Rs4 million.

Spreading over 25 acres, it has six cold storage rooms, one cold storage plant and a German boiler, which has never been utilised since its installation.

On the premises, as many as 160,500 cows or buffalos and 1,006,500 sheep can be slaughtered annually.

However, at present only 350 animals are slaughtered daily (excluding Tuesday and Wednesday).

The slaughterhouse is in poor condition. Its windowpanes are broken, steel doors jammed, overhead cranes non-functional and rusted while the German made boiler remains unutilised. The cold storage plants are also non-functional.

The sewerage disposal plant and the tubewell need renovation while there is also a need to replace the electric wiring.

The residents of Sadiqabad, Satellite Town, Kartarpura, Banni Chowk, Jamia Masjid Road, Mohanpura and Dhoke Ratta have been complaining that the Rawal Town Municipal Administration (RTMA) and the CDGR had failed to stop illegal slaughtering in their areas.

They said stinking smell emanating from the animal wastes being dumped in the open created problem for them. They also said the butchers were using the Leh Nullah as a dumping ground.

“The stinking smell becomes unbearable at night and early morning as the butchers slaughter their animals and burnt the fat,” said Syed Farhan Haider, a resident of Kartarpura.

Imtiaz Hussain, of Jamia Masjid Road, complained that the residents had requested the officials concerned to stop illegal slaughtering in the area but to no avail. He alleged that the health department and the RTMA staff were getting bribe from the butchers.

Dr Irshad Ahmed, manager of the slaughterhouse, told Dawn that 100 per cent animals in Islamabad were slaughtered illegally as no butcher from the capital city came to the facility. From Rawalpindi, he added, 20 to 30 per cent butchers used the abattoir.

He said there was no issue of upgradation of the abattoir as it remained un-utilised. According to the law, butchers have to slaughter their animals at the slaughterhouse and get verification certificates about the health of their animals from the doctors.

A senior official of the CDGR said butchers were not allowed to slaughter small animals like sheep and goats in the Sihala slaughterhouse. The small animals are either taken to the new Ratta Amral or slaughtered in the open.

He said the Sihala slaughter house was capable of providing hygienic meat to the residents but it was not being utilised.

Khurshid Ahmed Qureshi, the president of the All Pakistan Jamiatul Quresh Meat Welfare Association, said the Sihala slaughterhouse was away from the city centre and transport charges made the process costlier. He said the small-scale butchers had to pay Rs2,000 to Rs3,000 transportation charges for even 40kg mutton or beaf from Sihala to Islamabad.

However, he admitted that the butchers from Islamabad were not using the slaughterhouse. He alleged that the abattoir administration was demanding animal blood and wastes from the butchers and the latter were not ready to accept this, because they sold it in the market.

“We are waiting for the new slaughterhouse at H-9. The CDA had prepared PC-I of the project worth Rs140 million in 2010.” He said the slaughterhouse would be built on 20 acres to provide hygienic meat to the residents of the federal capital.

Rawal Town Administrator Saif Anwar Jappa told Dawn that it was not the duty of the RTMA to force the butchers to use the slaughterhouse.

However, another RTMA official added that the administration wanted to make a new slaughterhouse under its administrative control.

“The fact is that butchers dealing in beef have to go to Sihala and those selling mutton have to use the Ratta slaughterhouse. Dealing with the butchers is the responsibility of the agriculture department,” added Mr Jappa.