RAWALPINDI: The local administration’s failure to secure a designated site for the cattle market has caused small cattle markets to pop up around the city. Herds of sheep and goats could be seen at Raja Bazaar, Banni Chowk, Saidpur Road and Pirwadhai late into the night.

A senior City District Government Rawalpindi (CDGR) official told Dawn that the Punjab government handed over the control of Rawalpindi’s cattle market to the Punjab Cattle Market Authority, which has not been established yet.

He said the CDGR was not interested in taking on cattle market affairs for this reason, and therefore did not designate a site for the purpose. He added that previously, eight to 10 points would be identified a week before Eidul Azha.

The official said the CDGR directed the Rawal and Potohar town administrations not to allow cattle pen owners to enter the city due to ongoing dengue prevention measures.

“If the CDGR has allowed cattle markets at some sites, it would have been easier for the livestock, tehsil municipal administration (TMA) departments, and the health department, to look after the health of the animals to avoid the Congo virus,” he said.

Health experts advised the CDGR months ago to make arrangements to prevent the spread of Congo fever. The suggestions included setting up sites for sacrificial animals so they could be vaccinated. Congo fever is a tick-borne virus found among domestic and wild animals that can be transmitted to humans.

An official from the livestock department told Dawn that the measures needed to prevent the Congo virus in animals needed to be administered two weeks prior to slaughter, and had not been possible this year.

The official added that most people choose healthy animals but that the disease can spread in a herd. He said the department had constituted teams to visit different areas.

Some said that the local administration should allocate a space for the cattle market so that customers could visit and procure animals at reasonable rates.

“I bought a bull for Rs106,000 from Khayaban-i-Sir Syed because I didn’t have time to visit cattle markets outside the city,” Mohammad Taimor, a resident of Purana Qila, said.

He said that he visited markets in I-12 and Bagh Sardaran, but that the rates were higher because cattle owners had to pay TMA officials for illegally occupying the space.

Sagheer Ahmed from Akalgarh said that he bought a bull for Rs72,000 from Bagh Sardaran after the rains, as the rates had dropped. He said the price fell when it was raining because the keeper had nowhere to keep his animals.

Ahmed said that people would be able to buy better animals at reasonable rates if sites had been allotted for the Eid cattle market. He added that roaming cattle within the city was creating traffic problems.

Rawal Town administrator Imran Qureshi told Dawn that the local administration did not allocate sites for the cattle market as that comes under the administrative control of the Punjab Cattle Market Authority.

He said that the TMA was asked not to allow cattle pens in residential areas, and that no cattle pens had been established within the city.

He added that the TMA has formed teams to remove cattle pens outside the city.

Published in Dawn, September 24th , 2015

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