Amidst the din and confusion created by buses, cars, rickshaws and scooters in the heart of old Delhi, the piteous bleatings of goats and sheep, not a few of them lambs, catch our attention. Blows are being rained down on their defenceless quivering backs to goad them towards the Idgah slaughterhouse: huge lathis are used relentlessly to bruise and main the cringing animals who can sense their end. But how can they move in any direction, trapped as they are amidst the chaotic traffic.

Chaos is the key to the area wherein the slaughterhouse is located. Chaos reigns supreme within it, and without: within, because it slaughters four times the number of animals that it was expected to cope with; without, because over the years, thanks to the city’s burgeoning population, the area has got jam-packed with humanity.

To venture inside the abattoir is to expose yourself to various health hazards. Only the foolhardy would therefore seek to visit it; or those who are duty-bound to do so. The committee that the High Court has appointed to look into its operations to recommend measures to keep its surroundings clean and pollution free was duty-bound to visit it. It comprises the three lawyers, Raj Panjwani, Seema Midha and Atul Nanda. They were accompanied by members of three NGOs, M. Khalid of KARE, Gautam Vohra of DRAG and Gurvinder Singh of Development Alternatives as well as Dr. S. Raghavan and the veterinarian Dr. Naresh Garg.

The committee was set up to investigate the charges made in the petition field by Maneka Gandhi, the former minister of environment and forests.

The singular difference between the halal and jhatcka sections of the abattoir is that in the latter the visitor will not witness animals with their throats slit, but still alive, blood spurting with each jerk of their legs, even as their brothers and sisters watch with terror the death of one of their own (See ‘Hell On Earth”). but in both sections, filth predominates. The walls are discoloured with state blood, to which fresh coatings of the new victims are added each day. The floor is covered with a layer comprising animal excreta, entrails, urine and blood. If the visitor is not over-powered by the stench and the sight of the blood-drenched animals, and can walk to the corners of the abattoir, he will see insects crawling in various directions.

In the circumstance, is it a wonder that the atmosphere, as well as the water sources, are being polluted by the slaughterhouse.

n	The boiling of bones of the slaughtered animals within the slaughterhouse itself; the fumes emitted due to this process damage the atmosphere.
n	the purification of the entrails extracted from the stomach of the animals. It adds to the air pollution
n	The stench from the blood and the excreta of the animals that forms a carpet throughout the slaughterhouse. This contributes its own bit to the atmosphere.
n	The skins of the animals which are sometimes not removed speedily. hence these add to the air pollution levels.

n	The remains of the animals are flushed through the Idgah slaughterhouse drains into the Idgah slaughterhouse drains into the city’s open drains and sewers. These remains include animal excreta, blood, urine and entrails.
n	The slaughterhouse does not have an effluent treatment plant. Thereby these untreated effluents are carried to Delhi’s treatment plant at Okhla which does not have the capacity to treat them. Hence highly contaminated waste of the slaughterhouse is being dumped into the Yamuna river.
n	The contamination problem is compounded by lack of water provided for cleaning the abattoir. During this team’s visit, we learnt that the Municipal Corporation of Delhi had not supplied water for four days; the butchers and the karamcharis had not even received drinking water. hence the pool-basin of water where washing and cleaning operations are performed was yellow in colour, yellow with mucus, excreta, urine.
n	All such water too is directed into the city’s drains and sewers and eventually finds if way into the Yamuna and other drinking water sources.

For determining the exact nature and quantity of the pollutants in the atmosphere and the drains within the abattoir, samples from the air within it as well as the drains, choking with animal refuse, will have to be taken.

It needs a strong stomach to collect the samples, considering the filth and stench that pervades the slaughterhouse.

But are samples necessary? The stench emitted by the slaughterhouse hits the nostrils as you approach it. And the thick emulsion clogging the drains is there for all to see.

The root-cause of the damage being inflicted on the environment by the abattoir is the increase in its work-load. When constructed 80 years ago, it had to deal with a very small proportion of the animals it now has to. Then the seven acres earmarked for it were adequate. Now of these, two acres form the yard used by trucks/vehicles/rickshaws to unload animals and remove carcasses, and one acre has been encroached upon.

the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) which manages the abattior, has applied for its transfer to another site, and in fact, the Delhi Administration has deposited Rs. 3.42 crores on its behalf for land at Narela last July. However, the Public Investment board has so far not cleared the project.

Some of the commission agents and butchers, unhappy with the cramped and fould conditions, had their suggestions. Mohammad Zakir said that the MCD should expand the slaughterhouse in much the same way as the poultry and fish markets have been. These were extended by getting the encroachers on land around them to move to another site and provided with accommodation.

According to Mohammad, the DDA zone around the abattoir comprising 5 acres can be vacated in much the same manner, and this alone will vastly improve the situation.

Expansion apart, it is the current administration of the slaughterhouse that leaves much to be desired. Its manager, Dr. R.K. Bhargava, who accompanied the team members said that the it employs 115 safai karamcharis (apart form 3 superintendents, 15 assistant surgeons, 7 chowkidars, 11 drivers, 4 meat stampers, and so on). In fact, on the day of the team’s visit, it was difficult to spot any safai karamcharis; they were conspicuous by their absence.

the number of vets/doctors to examine the animals brought in for slaughter, so that the ill and diseased could be separated and herded away, were a handful. How can two or three doctors do a thorough job when in each shift they have to look at thousands of animals: for domestic consumptions 6,000 sheep and goats are slaughtered on an average each day and another 2,000 for the export market. Moreover 500 buffaloes are slaughtered for domestic consumption and 1,500 for the export market. (The export shift lasts from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. and the domestic one from 10 p.m. to 3 a.m.). There is not way that the handful of doctors can form their task in any meaningful way.

In fact, the wrath of the butchers, hide removers and karamcharis was reserved for the doctors who they said were taking bribes “left, right and centre and certifying unhealthy animals for slaughter”. Mohammad bhai, the local leader there even blamed them for the unhygienic conditions at the abattior. “If They wished, Dr. K. Rajbhans and his colleagues could keep it clean, or else refuse to work”, he observed.

First aid facilities do not exist at the abattior. Besides, it was not built to provide for the export market, whereas now the prime thrust is towards it. In fact, the slaughterhouse authorities are violating every norm in the book. And some not in it. The High Court judgement with regard to Mohammad Qureshi’s petition stated in October 92 that the Idgah slaughterhouse should close operations as on December 1993. The Central Pollution Control Board made a similar stipulation earlier. The Ministry of Environment Corporation to set up an effluent treatment plant at the abattoir. This step too has not been taken. The authorities running the show are carrying on regardless. q