Five decades old, Deonar abattoir awaits much-needed renewal

Despite its sheer volume, stakeholders like traders and butchers echo that the abattoir has struggled to keep up with times. It is the aim of modernising and upgrading the complex with new technology that the civic-run abattoir is set to undergo a massive overhaul for the first time since its construction five decades ago.

Estimated at a cost of roughly Rs. 1250 crore, the BMC is eyeing to augment the capacity of the abattoir while also introducing a new poultry abattoir to cater to as many as 50,000 birds everyday. For imparting education on the meat industry, the proposal also seeks to introduce a skill development centre in the midst of the compound.
As the facility braces for redevelopment, The Indian Express dives into the evolution of the slaughterhouse, the problems that riddle it and the revamp plan.

From Bandra to Deonar— How Asia’s largest slaughterhouse was established

Before the abattoir in Deonar came to be in the 1970s, there was the civic slaughterhouse in Bandra.

It was in the year 1866 that the Bombay municipal body procured sanctions for construction of the city’s first ever modern, civic operated slaughterhouse for which wetlands of Bandra – then in the periphery of the city. According to the Gazetteer of the Bombay Presidency of 1882, the construction of Bandra slaughterhouse was completed in 1867, following which meat traders who operated from Fort in South Mumbai were relocated to the Bandra facility.

Despite the hesitation of traders to relocate, the new establishment thrived for decades before concerns over its dismay first started to emerge in the 1920s. By 1930, the chief of erstwhile markets department submitted a report pointing to the insanitary conditions at the Bandra slaughterhouse and calling for an additional municipal meat market.

Pegged at the cost of Rs. 20 million, the BMC proposed a ‘modern slaughterhouse’ and an ‘abattoir’ to cater to the city’s rising meat demands at the recently reclaimed lands of Deonar spanning an area of 126-acre.

To outline a modern facility at Deonar, N. E. Wernberg, a consulting engineer for Copenhagen-based Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations was assigned to India as a ‘Slaughterhouse Expert’. In an assignment which spanned three phases between December 1957 and May 1959, Wernberg was to inspect the conditions at the Deonar site earmarked by the BMC and prepare a preliminary layout of essential functions recommended for the new slaughterhouse. In 1958, Wernberg submitted his final report – ’Slaughter Construction in Bombay’ to the government of India, which became the basis for the plan of the upcoming abattoir.

The original report, submitted by the FAO officer, on the basis of which the Deonar abattoir was established. (Express Photo)

However, the relocation to Deonar did not come easily, as members of both — the mutton Bakar Kasai and beef Gai Kasai communities — resisted the shift. Meat traders as well as butchers vehemently opposed the relocation over an array of concerns ranging from proximity to Jama Masjid located close to the Bandra facility to fears over lack of the bi-weekly livestock market facility at the new abattoir. The resistance to the shift went on to become a major source of contention between political parties in the municipal house proceedings in the years leading up to the shift to Deonar.

According to Shireen Mirza’s paper ‘Cow Politics: Spatial Shifts in the location of slaughterhouses in Mumbai City’, amidst the concerns, the erstwhile municipal commissioner announced that the Bandra slaughterhouse would be shut on January 1, 1973 much to the dismay of stakeholders with the federation of Meat Traders, Brokers and Workers’ Associations, who announced an indefinite strike.

Despite the resistance, the old facility at Bandra was finally razed in April 1973.

The Deonar facility and emerging concerns

When the Deonar facility was operationalised in 1971, it was equipped with scientific models like the assembly line method and modern machinery to facilitate supply of hygienic meat.

Constructed in line with the norms enshrined in section 61(h) of the MMC Act of 1888 as well as the 74th amendment, the BMC continues to operate the abattoir as a service provider for facilitating sanitary slaughter and wholesale of meat in sanitary conditions.

At present, the civic body issues nearly 40 different types of licenses to at least 3,000 direct stakeholders ranging from butchers, traders, handlers to others like caretakers. Renewed annually for a fee, these licenses enable stakeholders to enter the facility with the livestock for slaughter as well as trade. Besides direct links, the facility also provides indirect employment to several forward and backend linkages including farmers, aggregators, transporters to even delivery men.

While a large number of stakeholders are locals, livestock traders of goats and sheep predominantly hail from Rajasthan, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh.

Apart from slaughter of buffaloes, sheep, goats and pigs, the expansive space also encompasses sheds for animals as well as trading sections, open land and biomethanation plants for treating the waste.

However, decades of its operations have taken a toll on the facility in what has prompted the civic body to float a plan to overhaul the abattoir.

Mohammad Ali Qureshi, president of the Bombay Suburban Beef Dealers Association said that since its establishment in the 1970s, the Deonar facility has undergone “no real changes” in the time since.

“At the time when the new abattoir was created, they had incorporated new Australian technology. However, now these facilities have become outdated. For instance, for more than a decade, the mechanical machines inside the abattoir are not operational and they have become old. Currently, we carry out manual slaughtering for a fee and also assist the traders, after which the in house doctors check whether meat is sanitary,”

Mohammad Bilal Hamid Qureshi, a meat business owner who utilises the services at Deonar abattoir for slaughtering since 1997 echoed: “After the old building housing machinery was declared dilapidated, the BMC demolished the structure and since then, the mechanised slaughtering facility has remained shut.”

Furthermore, stakeholders pointed to the rising problem of flooding near the animal sheds during monsoon. “Since the roads inside the complex have been raised and the sheds are lower, every monsoon, we experience flooding in the animal shed area which is a matter of big concern,” added Mohammad Ali Qureshi.

Senior officials from the BMC concurred, “A lot of new technological evolutions have happened in the abattoir space since 1971. It is crucial to keep up with the times and thus, we have floated fresh plans to redevelop the facility. Furthermore, our new plan also seeks to do lots of value additions to ensure that the traders and farmers benefit from the space.”

Inside the revamp project

Having floated tenders for revamp at least twice over the past few years, the BMC in October charted fresh plans for redevelopment of the semi-mechanised abattoir to a state-of-the-art facility with modern equipment.

Of the total 64 acres of land parcel, nearly 44.45 acres is set to be overhauled under a Public Private Partnership (PPP) model. The upgrade seeks to integrate new technology and will also provide dedicated facilities for holding of animals, slaughter line for cutting, washing as well as chilling, deboning, freezing, modern packing and cold storage.
While the facility currently functions in one shift, the new model seeks to augment the capacity of all the abattoir sections to two eight-hour shifts.

According to the proposed plans, the new Buffalo facility will be able to cater to 550 in each shift with a total of at least 1350 animals per day. Similarly, the pigs and sheep/goat abattoir will have the daily capacity to cater to 500 pigs and 10,000 goats each.

The new Buffalo facility will be able to cater to 550 in each shift with a total of at least 1350 animals per day. (Express Photo)

In a first, the BMC is also poised to venture into the poultry facility by establishing a new abattoir dedicated for the slaughter of poultry. “The plan for a new poultry abattoir was chartered in view of the growing meat demands in the city,” said an official.

The new poultry section is proposed to have the capacity to operate 2,500 birds per hour with the maximum limit of 50,000 birds each day. Situated in an area of 1.74 acres of land adjacent to the existing buffalo abattoir section, the poultry abattoir is estimated at cost of Rs. 35.11 crore.

At the heart of the ambitious plan, meanwhile, lies the proposal to construct a brand new skill development centre. According to senior officials, this is the USP of the new project which seeks to offer educational courses and training to subjects related to the field of meat industry. “After construction, our objective is to rope in government or government recognised institutes to offer educational courses and training for subjects like product development in the meat industry,” said a BMC official.

Apart from the ancillary facilities catering to the main abattoir such as chiller and storage units, the project also proposes to carry out civil works within the premises to improve infrastructure.

To ease financial burden, the project seeks to rope in private investment for modernisation and redevelopment of the facilities while civil works within the abattoir compound such as the land development, upgradation of storm water drains, sewerage, roads amongst other amenities will be funded by the BMC.

Dr. Kalimpasha Pathan, general manager at Deonar abattoir told The Indian Express that the upgradation of the Deonar abattoir is the need of the hour.

“As there is a considerable non-veg eating population in the city, there is a big question of where the meat being supplied to houses and restaurants is coming from. It is necessary that the source of all meats is legal and recognised. Since the existing structure was established in the 1970s, the modernisation of the abattoir is the need of the hour. It abides with the legal mandate as the Supreme Court has directed for each city to have a sanitary facility for provision of meat,” Dr. Pathan told The Indian Express.

The revival of the redevelopment of Asia’s largest abattoir comes nearly three years after the BMC in 2022 scrapped a Rs. 400 crore revamp plan for the Deonar facility after several legislators and former councillors from BJP pointed out discrepancies in the project and alleged cost-escalation and rigging of tenders.

Supporting the redevelopment plan, Qureshi told Express, “We were shown the plans for redevelopment after they were readied and we did not submit any objections. The redevelopment of the facility is a big necessity for upgrading. However, we have been hearing about these plans for nearly a decade now. It is essential that the project for upgradation is undertaken on ground, without any cancellations like the past.”