The Residents’ Welfare Society of Sector I-9/4 held a protest demonstration against Capital Development Authority (CDA)’s decision to build a new slaughterhouse close to the 9th Avenue and IJ Principal Road intersection.
The residents forced the contractor to stop work and leave the project site, saying the site was already earmarked for a multi-purpose community centre in Islamabad’s Master Plan.
“The residents of Sector I-9 are already suffering from air pollution caused by marble factories and steel mills, besides the stench emanating from the sewerage treatment plant. A slaughterhouse will further add to their miseries,” said Residents’ Welfare Society President Chaudhry Amjad Ali.
He said the people would not allow the CDA to build a slaughterhouse in the thickly populated area.
The Pakistan Environmental Protection Agency (Pak-EPA) after inspecting the site, had already declared the site unsuitable for a slaughterhouse, he added.
Chaudhry Amjad claimed the society had written many letters to CDA officials, besides meeting its chairman, but they had done nothing to resolve the issue.
“Instead of shifting the pollution causing factories in I-9/4, the CDA is bent upon building a slaughterhouse in the heart of a residential area,” said Kanif Kiani, a resident of Sector I-9/4.
The large number of slaughtered animals’ waste would create new problems as it was likely to be dumped into the stream near the project site, he said and added, “The slaughterhouse would result in stench in the air and attract swarms of flies and scavenging birds too.”
The residents of nearby Sector I-8, 9th Avenue, IJ Principle Road, Pindora and Double Road in the twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad would be badly affected by the proposed project apart from the travellers on the two busiest avenues, he said.
The protestors have suggested to the CDA to improve the existing facilities at the present slaughterhouse in Humak, instead of constructing a new building. Else the site of the new project should be shifted to some area away from the residential areas.