SHILLONG: The Shillong Abattoir being constructed at Mawiong is likely to be completed by January-February next year.
Minister in charge Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Deborah Marak said that the work was almost completed and only some final touches remained.
The abattoir is being constructed at a cost of Rs.22 crore.
According to Marak, the four-month-long ILP agitations in 2013 added to the delay in the project.
In the absence of a modern slaughter house in the city, butchers are slaughtering animals at their homes or private lands, but with this abattoir in place consumers would now be able to get their quota of meat which would be more hygienic than before.
It may be mentioned that the department has taken steps to ensure that effluents are not released outside the premises of the slaughter house. A number of ponds have been constructed for the purpose of releasing liquid wastes from the slaughter house; besides a treatment plant is also in place to treat the waste water to be used for domestic purposes and which will also be converted into fish ponds.
The abattoir would have a capacity of 160 large animals, 240 pigs and 240 small animals (goats) per day.
It may be mentioned that the slaughter house is being constructed by the Rapsang Group of Companies in collaboration with Real Growth Company, Chennai.
The design of the proposed abattoir adhered to the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Slaughter House) Rules, 2001, and the Bureau of Indian Standard (BIS) 4393 of 1979 which is the basic requirement for an abattoir.
The project is also expected to open up employment opportunities for local youths.
The abattoir project, however, has been beset with numerous obstacles in the form of protests and missed deadlines.
The project was earlier slated to be completed by April 2013, but completion date was rescheduled to December and later to March 2014.
As March came and went, the project continued to progress at a slow pace, following which both the Government and the implementing companies set a deadline of June to make the abattoir operational.