The alleged sale of meat from unauthorised slaughter centres at Ulwe has now become an environmental threat. Activists have expressed concerns over bird strikes to aircrafts at the upcoming Navi Mumbai International Airport (NMIA) as these slaughters are alleged to be happening in the open and at close proximity from the flight runway.
“The open slaughter at Ulwe is situated barely 3 km from the runway. This is a flagrant violation of the aircraft norms by the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) which says there shall be no slaughter of animals within 10 km radius of any airport,” said the director of Natconnect foundation BN Kumar.
The foundation has highlighted the issue with the Ministry of civil aviation as well. Kumar lodged his complaint through the PMO website and alerted the CIDCO’s controller of unauthorised constructions and the vigilance officer.
“The slaughter sites attract all kinds of scavenging birds including eagles and crows. As the area is very close to the airport, the birds can pose threats to the aircraft.
Ulwe falls under the aircraft funnel zone which means it has to be free of free flying birds.7″ said kumar.
Local people and activists have been raising their voice and. It is informed by residents that a letter was earlier addressed to various authorities by the NCP (Ajit Pawar) faction to bring an end to the menace of open slaughters.
The open slaughters are stated to be happening in Sector 19, Ulwe.
“It is also risky in these days of bird flu and GBS virus threats,” president of NCP party Santosh Kate said.
Another activist Karan Chawla from the node too stated of having written to the Chief Minister on the matter. The complaint was forwarded to the additional chief secretary -home Dr I S Chahal and Urban Development-2 secretary Govind Raj. “But we are yet to see any tangible action on ground,” Chawla said.
It is shocking that the officials have been turning a blind eye to the flagrant violations, Kumar said and called for setting a proper slaughter house in Navi Mumbai with strict adherence to hygiene and other safety norms for the benefit of non-vegetarian food lovers.
“It is not the right way to buy chicken and mutton from roadside and eat,” he remarked.
