Kathmandu, Apr. 20: The proposed site for animal slaughter house which the Kathmandu Metropolitan City was to construct  at local Hyumat Tol has been found unsuitable in view of the public health and the environmental consideration in the area, according to the Department of Livestock Services.

The department said although the area was located on the side of the Bishnumati River, it was not suitable for the abattoir because of the dense settlement and the shortage of water.

Kathmandu Metropolitan City had called for tender bids for construction of the slaughter house in February last year in the National Gorkhapatra daily.

The department of livestock services had then written to Kathmandu Metropolitan City informing it that the place was not suitable site for construction of the slaughterhouse in view of environment and the adverse effects it would have on the public health and other technical reasons.

The waste produced from the slaughterhouse on the banks of the Bishnumati River which is itself no more than sewerage would pose other environmental and health problems in the area. The  animal bones and other waste from the abattoir would be hard to manage in a dense settlement area like this, Dr. S.A. Mahato, chief of the deDpartment of Livestock Services said.

Abattoirs are generally constructed in areas with abundant supply of water, but Hyumat has no such facilities, he said.

Not a single large cities in the world have slaughter house constructed in the middle of the city, he claimed, adding it has become necessary to construct a modern and well-managed abattoir in Nepal for hygienic selling of meat.

According to the department of livestock services, big and standard hotels in Kathmandu do not buy meat from the local bazaar and the situation here is such that it is difficult even for the foreigners living here to consume meat from the local market.

Even the standard meat products manufacturing units in Kathmandu do not use local meat.

It is learnt that 17-18 tonnes of buff, 100 tonnes of pork, 50 tonnes chicken and 70 tonnes mutton is imported annually in Kathmandu to cater to the demands of big hotels and the foreigner communities living here.

500-600 buffaloes, over 2,500 goats, 200 pigs and more than 25,000 chickens are slaughtered in a day in Kathmandu.

Says Dr. Purushotam Mainali of the department, “While buffaloes are slaughtered on the ground floor of makeshift slaughterhouses, they are cleaned and cleared in dirty water anywhere. So the meat available here cannot be considered hygienic.”

As slaughter of female animals has been prohibited by the country civil code, some of the butchers are found to slaughter female animals and sell its meat clandestinely inside their houses.

Nepal is the only country in South Asia where the act pertaining to meat examination and certification is ineffective, said Dr. Baikuntha Parajuli of the Department of Livestock Services.

In a brief interview to RSS, Minister of State for Agriculture and Cooperatives Baldev Sharma Majgaiya said that while it was  a welcome idea on the part of the Kathmandu Metropolitan City to construct a slaughterhouse here, the proposed site was unfit for the purpose because it was the most unhygienic of locations in the whole of the Kathmandu Valley and also lacked in basic facilities for the abattoir.

He said His Majesty’s Government would soon introduce a legislations on quality control and checking of meat and meat products. Stating hide worth Rs 65-70 million  was exported annually from the country, he said the country’s exports too would increased if the processing of hide could be made more systematic and its quality improved.

According to the animal health division, more than 150,000 buffaloes and over 500,000 goats are imported annually from India to meet the demand of meat here.

Minister of state Majgaiya also said that the government was committed to constructing a modern and systematic slaughterhouse in Kathmandu.

The animal health division is also learnt to have organised a study tour of some slaughter houses in India for large scale meat sellers in Kathmandu sometimes back in connection with raising their awareness on the hygienic sale of meat to consumers.