Abattoir upgrade: Youth Cong prez criticises protest

Youth Congress Dakshina Kannada president Mithun Rai has called the protests by the VHP and the Sangh Parivar against the proposed upgrade of the Kudroli abattoir a political gimmick.

The abattoir is proposed to be modernised under the Smart City project.

Rai was addressing a press meet in the city on Monday.

He urged the BJP leaders to write to the Central government to change the proposal on modernisation of the abattoir. “The Smart City project had mandated ‘a clean slaughterhouse’. Minister U T Khader had only suggested an upgrade of the abattoir at a cost of Rs 15 crore as the condition of the city’s only abattoir is in deplorable condition,” he insisted.

“The upgrade of the slaughterhouse will help manage the waste at the source scientifically, instead of dumping the waste into water bodies and drains. The Smart City project also aims at cleanliness of the city. Should we continue to dump the waste from the abattoir into the drains?” he asked.

He challenged the VHP leader Jagadish Shenava to protest against Prime Minister Narendra Modi to increase beef export in the last two years. He also challenged Shenava to address Modi with the same derogatory language that Shenava had used against Khader.

“The Union Ministry of Animal Husbandry has earmarked Rs 68 crore for upgrade of the abattoir in the country. Why have Shenava and the Hindu organisations not protested against the move? Did they not remember Hindutva and love for the cow then?” he asked.

The president charged the BJP and the pro-Hindu organisations of failing to shut down slaughterhouses n Mangaluru during their tenure. “The BJP too had auctioned the abattoir in the city during their tenure at the City Corporation. Their own members had participated in the auction,” Rai charged.

Most of the beef traders are Hindus, including BJP leaders, he pointed out.

He further pointed out that it was Khader who got a road to a gaushala near Asaigoli auctioned. “The protest against Khader was an attempt to tarnish his image and to create communal disturbance before the Lok Sabha polls,” said Rai.

“If the protesters had respect for the cows, they should at least rear a minimum of two cows or donate cows to the poor to rear. I donated at least 100 cows to the poor. My farmland had at least 40 to 50 cows. We believe in Hindutva that propagates communal harmony while their (BJP’s) Hindutva aims at sowing seeds of hate,” he criticised.

DCC chief flays BJP

Criticising the BJP for opposing the proposal to upgrade the slaughterhouse in Mangaluru, District Congress Committee president and MLC K Harish Kumar said, “The protesters should understand the basic concept of the Smart City project.”

He asked if the abattoir should continue to remain dirty and people should continue to collect meat from a place which is unhygienic.

“The proposal includes a full-fledged UGD system, sewage treatment plant, veterinary doctor’s office to verify the health of the animal. The Smart City project does not include modernisation of an abattoir alone. It has also proposed multi-level car parking and bus shelter facilities and development of the Central Market,” said Harish Kumar.