Saligao's Illegal Piggery & Slaughter House - 2: complaint+video prompt joint site inspection

A combination of this complaint - signed by 240 residents of Donvaddo and Sonarbhatt - and the Video Volunteers film on the problem, led to a 3-way joint site inspection by the Health Officer, Primary Health Centre, Candolim; the Dept. of Animal Husbandry and the Sarpanch, VP Saligao.  Copies of the film were given to the Health Officer, Sarpanch, VP Saligao and local MLA.

The usual game of passing the buck stopped at the Sarpanch and it now rests with him to stop the illegal activity and implement the relevant laws and rules governing the keeping and slaughter of pigs in residential areas.  He will also have to implement the law governing garbage dumps and the burning of garbage, especially plastics in a residential area. 

The Health Officer cannot escape the immediate removal of all the health hazards connected with this illegal activity, and the burning of plastic garbage.

The Pollution Control Board will have to stop the burning of plastic garbage with its resultant air pollution as well as the seepage into the underground water table of the infected, putrefying and stinking blood, that rots in a pool along with the the urine, dung and entrails of the slaughtered pigs.65

The communities of Donvaddo and Sonarbhatt have suffered enough.  We hope that the 2 communities along with Sarpanch Eknath will work towards a win-win situation for them as well as the pig-rearing families.

Saligao's Illegal Piggery & Slaughter House - 1

Remember Sulochana Pednekar the grassroots Community Correspondent from Video Volunteers who came in and did a short video documentary on the illegal piggery and slaughter house in Donvaddo, Saligao?

Her video is now up here...

More on the devastation caused by this dangerous community nuisance and health hazard as the community responds.  Stay tuned.

Illegal Slaughter House Endangers Saligao Community

by Community Correspondent Sulochana Pednekar 
with Lara Chandni 

(Saligao's sordid piggy story unfolds as a grassroots community correspondent investigates the problem with her video camera...)

In Saligao village at Donvaddo, there is a drain alongside the road which lies clogged with the blood and entrails of slaughtered pigs. For many years now, the area’s local piggery has been a source of serious emotional and material distress to its neighbours.

Aside from the insupportable stench of excreta, rotting offal and the flamboyant disregard for any considerations of hygiene, the squeals of dying pigs at odd hours during the day are traumatising the entire community. This is especially disturbing in light of the slaughterhouse’s proximity to a school. Situated only 100 metres away is Lourdes Convent, and everyday its 1,600 young students have to jeopardise their physical and mental wellbeing in order to attend class.

Sulochana was shocked by the very experience of filming: “Even when I was moving around the area to record my video, the smell was unbearable. The owners themselves live in extremely unhygienic conditions. The drain is a breeding ground for mosquitoes; the organic waste used to feed the pigs attracts hoards of flies and cockroaches. Rodents also infest the area. To makes this worse, crows and eagles pick up rotting pig entrails and spread them all over the village, putting the whole community at risk.” Needless to say, this entire operation is illegal.

The Goa Animal Preservation Act of 1995 lays down some very stringent regulations for the meatpacking industry. In section 4 of the Act it is stipulated that, "no person shall slaughter or cause to be slaughtered any scheduled animal in any place in the state of Goa, unless he has obtained in respect of such animal, a certificate in writing from the competent authority that the animal is fit for slaughter". With its qualified staff and equipment, the Goa Meat Complex is the sole establishment which satisfies all requisites for the scientific and hygienic slaughter of animals. It charges private meat vendors a total of Rs. 400 for outsourcing their work.

Notwithstanding, there are at least 20–30 illicit abattoirs to be found in the state. In January of this year, authorities intercepted a truck transporting 42 pigs from Belgaum to Goa, and 8–10 animals are killed daily at the slaughterhouse in Saligao. The number can rise to 25 on weekends. This routine massacre has exposed the entire neighbourhood to various health hazards. While the worst affected are women and children who stay home during the day or attend school at Lourdes Convent, the situation is bad enough to trouble even a passersby.

Apart from the unsanitary and often imaginary disposal of animal offal, the locality is plagued by other unsavoury by-products of the business. Hotel garbage is brought in by the truckload to feed the pigs and then left to fester and decompose before being burnt. This residual waste often contains a lot of plastic, and the fumes emitted from its incineration pollute the entire atmosphere. The inferno then plays itself out to the grizzly soundtrack of pigs screaming from being shifted or slaughtered, from 5:00am to 8:00am and then again at night.

There have been several initiatives taken up by the community to request the owners to follow official guidelines in operating their business. The residents even tried to enlist the help of the parish priest in maintaining some semblance of hygiene in the area. All pleas have, however, fallen on deaf ears. The family remains staunch in its refusal to acknowledge its toxic effect on the environs. Through this video we hope to attract the attention of the Health Department, so that it can take appropriate action against the owners and put an end to their illegal and unsanitary activities.

The demands of the residents are fairly straightforward:

-  The Health Department should conduct regular inspections of the piggery and enforce a strict adherence to government regulations. The import and slaughter of pigs and the burning of waste must be in accordance with the Solid Waste Management Rules of 2000.

-  The Panchayat or Village Council should also inspect the compound on a regular basis and ensure an observance of protocol through its Garbage Sub-Committee.

-  The local Panch member, Sarpanch (Headman) and MLA of the region should ascertain that these inspections and enforcements are carried out smoothly. Action needs to be taken immediately and effectively at the level of the Health Ministry and the Cabinet.

(ends)

42 Pigs Rescued In Daring Night Chase

42 Pigs Rescued In Daring Night Chase

 Beginning with this post, we are going to chronicle anOTHERside of Saligao...

 In January this year, the Times of India took Saligao by surprise with this alarming report.  It betrayed the fact that the demand for pork far outweighs the supply from local piggeries.

So, pigs from the neighbouring states grunt their last journey into Saligao in conditions you would not even raise a pig in!  Stinking and forced to wallow in their own urine and excreta, these condemned animals are packed worse than sardines leaving some of them dead even before their throats are slit at the slaughter house in Saligao.

Read the full report:

42 Pigs Rescued In Daring Night Chase

TNN Jan 12, 2013, 03.21AM IST

MAPUSA: About 42 pigs being illegally transported to Goa from Belgaum in a pickup were rescued near Mapusa by two animal welfare activists in a daring mission at 1.30am on Thursday.

Having received a tip-off, John Fernandes and Mahadev Mestri of the Animal Rescue Squad set off on a motorbike for the 'Goa-Mumbai' NH 17, looking for a Karnataka-registered vehicle.

Near Hotel Green Park they saw the pickup heading towards Panaji and heard the grunting of pigs. Following the vehicle, they got it to stop by stopping their own motorbike right in front of it.

"We asked the driver for the permit to transport the pigs. He didn't have one and instead offered us a bribe," claimed Fernandes.

The duo called the police who arrested the driver and the two helpers-all Karnataka natives-and rescued the pigs. Sources said the pigs were headed to a slaughterhouse in Saligao.

Describing the "horrid" conditions under which the pigs were being transported, Fernandes said, "The pickup was divided into two sections and the upper section alone had 25 pigs. The condition was unhygienic and so crammed that one pig had died during the journey."

He stressed that the law does not permit the carrying of so many pigs in such constrained conditions.

Police sources corroborated this, saying the transportation was in violation of provisions of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960, the Transport of Animals Rules, 1978, and the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

"The law requires that those transporting pigs should have a licence to do so. It is also illegal to transport pigs in a vehicle that has not been properly constructed to carry them," an animal activist later explained.

The arrested trio are under police custody.

(ends)