The post of a veterinarian at the three slaughter houses in the city - two for goats and one for cows - remains vacant for at least the past five years.
Among the two goat slaughter houses, the one at Nelpettai is usually crowded and work begins as early as 2 a.m. every day. Around 1,000 goats are butchered on Sundays, says a source from Madurai Corporation. The other one is the modern slaughter house at Anuppanadi, which is usually busy only before festivals. At the old cow slaughter house at Mahaboobpalayam, only a few cows are slaughtered every day.
A veterinarian must be present at these slaughter houses to check and certify an animal as healthy before slaughtering it. “But, since there is no doctor, the mutton shopkeepers tend to butcher even inferior quality goats at the slaughter house at Nelpettai. It raises health concerns among the customers who tend to eat them,” says A. Kaja Mohideen, president of Sungam Pallivasal at Nelpettai. “We have made several appeals to the Corporation to appoint a doctor. However, no action has been taken towards it,” he adds.
Concurring with this viewpoint, S. Muthukrishnan, president of Madurai City Mutton Retail Merchants Association, who also owns a stall at Nelpettai market, says many mutton shopkeepers tend to butcher the goats at their own shops, rather than coming to the slaughter house. “It is mandatory that goats are butchered at the slaughter house. But, many shopkeepers, especially from Arapalayam, Mahaboobpalayam, Pudur and Palanganatham, tend to butcher the goats at their own shops, in violation of the norms,” he says.
Despite repeated appeals, the Corporation officials are not inspecting the shops that violate the norms and penalise them, he adds.
A source from the Animal Husbandry Department says since 2014 the veterinarian post at the slaughter houses have remained vacant. “There were discussions held earlier to appoint one veterinarian to take care of all the three slaughter houses,” said the source.
Due to improper monitoring mechanisms, illegal slaughtering tends to happen in the city.
Assistant City Health Officer S. Vinodh Raja says that a veterinarian from a NGO occasionally inspected the slaughter houses. “We will appoint a permanent veterinarian within the next few days,” he adds.
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