Shifting of temporary cattle markets in the outskirts of the city to facilitate the faithful intending to buy sacrificial animals on Eid-ul-Azha here instead of traditional places has multiplied their hardships besides increase in the prices of these animals.
Arrangements of city district government also resulted in another trend: a seller having two to four animals (especially goat or sheep) would wander in the city and halt wherever they get a serious buyer or some youth enquiring the prices and bargaining just to kill time. One can see such animal sellers almost in all the areas, while people gathered around them at some places also created hardships in the smooth flow of traffic.
Instead of traditional temporary markets set up at various places of the city, the CDGL set up eight such markets around the city in a bid to keep the city clean. The seven points are China Scheme D Block, Match Factory Shahdara, Rajbah Road Daroghawala, Galaxo Factory on Ferozpur Road, Shahpur Kanjran, LDA Avenue I on Raiwind Road and Ghaziabad in the Tajpura area.
However, it created many problems for the buyers, as they had to pay higher fare to bring back the bought animals as compared to last many years. "Transporters are demanding Rs 2,000 from these markets to the city, thus adding to the cost of the already expensive animals," remarked Furqan Hanif, a buyer from Chauburji. Every year, animal markets are established usually at Bakkar Mandi, Ichhra, Chowk Yatim Khana, Bagbanpura, Chaurburji, Faisal Town, Scheme More, Green Town, Railway Station, Wahdat Road, Multan Road, Dehli Gate, Bhati Darbar, Peco Road, Johar Town adjacent to Expo Centre, area adjacent to Kot Lakhpat Railways Station etc.
Although two days had left in Eid, but sale of the sacrificial animals is not picking up pace due to escalating prices and diminishing purchasing power of the faithful. Majority of the people are opting for the cheaper method of following this ritual, ie, sharing in bigger animals which cost from Rs 6,000 to 8,000 per person instead of going for goat or sheep which on average this year is costing from Rs 14,000 and upward.
A market survey conducted on Saturday revealed that this year the prices of sacrificial animals have almost doubled as compared to that of last year. Many of the retired and in-service government and private sector employees are unable to perform the important religious obligation this time because sacrificial animals are beyond their purchasing power.
A cow is now being sold at Rs 55,000-80,000 and a lean goat around 15,000 in the animal markets. However, an average goat is selling in the range of Rs 18,000 whereas a fairly built goat will cost around Rs 20,000. A well built goat, which had become a status symbol in our society, starts from around Rs 40,000 and can go up to Rs 80,000.
Last year, prices of the same animals were considerable less, and it was not beyond the pockets of people. The animal traders had the justification for the hike in the prices of sacrificial animals this year. They all said due to recent floods in Sindh, the supply of animals is less this year and with the combination of costly animal feeds and increase in transportation cost, the sacrificial animals have become costlier.
This year also was noticed that involvement of a middleman in the animal trade has increased, which added extra cost to the buyers. Like last year, purchasing of sacrificial animals has been very slow and most of them just leave markets empty handed. The buyers complained that the prices of sacrificial animals were ridiculous and well beyond their pockets.
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