Ludhiana: After hanging fire for over 10 long years, the modernization of a slaughterhouse on Hambran Road is expected to finally see the light of day, as the civic body has selected a company to handle this project, and MC officials are expected to hand over work orders to company representatives in the coming week.
The project picked up pace under pressure created by the Union food processing ministry for completion of the project by March 2019, failing which the MC would have to return the amount released for the project back to the Centre.
The MC has allocated the project work to Noida-based Micro Transmission System, and the letter of intent has already been issued. Officials claimed construction work would start as soon as the agreement was signed, and company representatives are claiming they would complete the work within a year. Under this project, manual slaughter will be replaced by automation, and animals will be thoroughly checked to avoid the slaughter of sick animals.
MC’s senior veterinary officer of health branch, Dr YP Singh, said they had received an ‘in principle approval’ from mayor Balkar Sandhu, because it would take time for a formal meeting of the Finance and Contracts Committee (F&CC) members to happen, and they do not have that much time. He said they would try to complete more than half the construction work before March 2019, because if they do not do so, then there are chances the Union ministry might shut down the scheme.
Meanwhile, residents demanded an early start to the project. Lajpat Nagar resident Hemant Sharma said when a proper slaughterhouse is established at one location, then the unhygienic slaughter of animals in every nook and corner of the city would end.
Echoing a similar opinion, Ghumar Mandi resident Ashok Kumar said: “If slaughtering is done with machines, and in a systematic manner, then chances of spreading diseases will reduce, and people who eat non-vegetarian food will not suffer ailments.”
Notably, the project was announced way back in 2008, but was hanging fire due to paucity of funds. The total cost of the project is somewhere around Rs19.50 crore, out of which Rs8 crore has to be allocated by the Union government, while the rest will be arranged by the state government and MC. The Union government had paid Rs79 lakh to MC around two-and-a-half years ago. In September 2017, Local Bodies minister Navjot Sidhu — on behalf of chief minister Amarinder Singh — made several important announcements for the industrial town, besides assuring Rs20 crore for the slaughterhouse project. Now again, the CM has announced Rs20 crore for the modern slaughterhouse at a function here on Independence Day. This amount is a part of the total Rs366 crore announced for MC.
GST TO HIKE COST
Civic officials claimed that since the total cost was estimated several years ago, now after the imposition of GST, there were chances of increase in its cost. The MC had estimated Rs19.50 crore as its cost, but tenders have been allotted for Rs17.65 crore. With 18% GST, the project cost will touch Rs21 crore.
