The cattle markets of the city are ready to start selling sacrificial animals from today as traders begin bringing in cattle to the capital from different districts.
Apart from the permanent Gabtoli cattle market – the biggest one in the capital, there will be 22 makeshift markets set up in the city; six of those will be under the Dhaka North City Corporation, 10 under Dhaka South City Corporation, and six more under Dhaka district administration.
Cattle market organisers have already completed most of their preparations as they get ready to welcome the rush of traders and customers ahead of Eid-ul-Azha on September 25.
Most cattle markets have been set up at the same locations as the previous years, but some changes have been made considering hygiene and other issues.
DNCC officials said that unlike other years, cattle markets will not be set up in areas adjoining the Sher-e-Bangla Nagar Hospital and other institutions in Agargaon or around Uttara Azampur Government Primary School.
DNCC Chief Executive Officer BM Enamul Haque told the Dhaka Tribune they have shifted the cattle markets considering public interest.
The locations of the DNCC markets are the open areas near Khilkhet-Banorupa Residential Project area, Eastern Housing at Mirpur 6, the bridge at Uttara 15 and 16, the Kuril-Purbachal 300-feet wide link road, Baunia Canal embankment, and near Rayerbazar graveyard.
Meanwhile, DSCC Chief Executive Md Ansar Ali Khan said they have not shifted any cattle markets this year because there has been no objection against any of their makeshift markets.
The DSCC cattle markets have been set up on the Jigatala-Hazaribagh ground, Rahmatganj playground in Lalbagh, Meradia playground, Sadek Hossain Khoka playground, the Maitree Shangho playground adjacent to North Shahjahanpur rail gate, the Dhupkhola East End Club playground, Balur Math adjacent to Brothers Union playground at Gopibagh, the open space adjacent to Postogola Shoshanghat, Hazi Delwar Hossain playground at Lalbag and near the Islam Chairman house near the Buriganga second channel embankment.
Cattle coming early
Although cattle traders were not officially allowed to bring their animals to the capital before Saturday, many of them were found to have been violating the rule for the past few days.
Influential local political leaders have been allegedly providing support for these traders, allowing them to set up temporary camps near the cattle markets.
Visiting the designated market spots over the last few days, the Dhaka Tribune found that traders were keeping their cattle outside the markets and on the footpaths.
Earlier, Dhaka Metropolitan Police, the DNCC and the DSCC authorities announced that no cattle market would be allowed to set up before September 19.
Suruj Ali, who arrived in the city on Thursday with 20 cattle from Chapainawabganj, said he has not entered the market near Sadek Hossain Khoka Playground to avoid extortion by the city corporation and police.
He said the market’s lessees have told him it was okay to stay outside the designated market area until Saturday.
When contacted, a lessee of a DSCC market said: “Most traders start for Dhaka three or four days early to avoid any trouble during the long journey from distant districts. So they reach Dhaka a couple of days ahead of schedule. I think it is not a violation of the rules.
“The cattle are not human beings who could be easily controlled and brought to Dhaka in a scheduled time,” he told the Dhaka Tribune on condition of anonymity.
DSCC and DNCC official, meanwhile, said their responsibility was to control the designated areas of a makeshift market, but not its surrounding areas.
DMP Commissioner Asaduzzaman Miah said the on-duty and petrol police personnel have been told to monitor the matter strictly.
But an on-duty policeman near the Kamrangir Char market told the Dhaka Tribune that they could do nothing as ruling party men used their influence to give permission for keeping cattle beside the designated market sites.
Cattle supply in Ctg increases, sales still slow
Supply is increasing in the cattle markets of Chittagong city, but the number of buyers are still small in the markets despite Eid-ul-Azha being less than a week away.
The authorities of the cattle markets are happy with the inflow of the sacrificial animals and are hoping for the sales to pick up in the next few days.
Sources at the port city’s cattle markets said supply of Indian cattle increased in the last few days, beside the supply from Myanmar.
In addition, cattle from other parts of the country, especially Kushtia, Chapainawabganj, Dinajpur, Rajshahi and border districts.
If the supply continues until Eid, there should be no shortage of sacrificial cattle this year, cattle traders told the Dhaka Tribune.
Besides the two permanent cattle markets – Sagarika and Bibirhat – in the city, five temporary markets have been set up in Karnaphuli, Saltgola, Steel Mill, Kamal Mohajon Hat areas and Patenga High School playground, said sources in Chittagong City Corporation.
Outside the city, big cattle markets have been set up in Hathazari upazila’s Fateyabad area and Satkania upazila’s Keranirhat area, while smaller markets have been erected in other upazilas.
Masud Hasan, lessee of Sagarika cattle market, said most buyers were just visiting the markets for now, checking the prices, but the sales was likely to pick up in a day or two.
Nur Mohammad, resident of the city’s Halishahar area, is one of those visiting the market to check the prices.
“The increasing supply of cattle is a good sign, but the prices are still high,” he said.
Masud alleged that traffic police were extorting cattle-laden trucks on the highways, which was automatically increasing the prices.
The city corporation’s land official Ahmadul Haque said the corporation was expecting to earn around Tk3.5 crore from the cattle markets this year.
CCC Chief Conservatory Officer Shafiqul Mannan Siddique said around 100,000 cattle would be slaughtered in Chittagong city on the occasion of Eid-ul-Azha this year.