RAWALPINDI: The Rawalpindi Municipal Corporation (RMC) has banned vendors selling sacrificial animals from roaming on main roads and streets, and has instead allocated three sales points.

The district administration has banned makeshift cattle markets in residential areas, and asked the RMC and the District Council to allocate sales points to buy and sell sacrificial animals within the city.

These points are at Banni Chowk, Bagh Sardaran and Gai Chowk on Rawal Road. Vendors can sell animals there until the eve of Eidul Azha.

However, a senior district administration official said the sales point at Gai Chowk would create problems because it is near the Nur Khan Airbase runway.

“Under the rules, there should be no garbage or movement of animals near the runway as this attracts birds, which creates hurdles to airplanes flying smoothly.

He said the aviation authorities have already issued standard operation procedures for cleanliness around the runway, and no garbage dumping point or animal sales point would be allowed nearby.

Vendors permitted to sell sacrificial animals at points on Banni Chowk, Bagh Sardaran, Gai Chowk

The official said the RMC was issued a warning to allocate another area, but has not responded yet.

Visits to various localities on Sunday found sales points for sacrificial sheep, goats and even cattle, especially in Banni Market and Bagh Sardaran. Traders could also be seen walking their animals in localities in the city areas.

The establishment of cattle markets has also hampered traffic in the city, and motorists have called on the traffic police to manage congestion.

With many residents preferring the illegal cattle markets at Banni Chowk near the Banni police station and Bagh Sardaran in order to save on transportation charges, severe traffic congestion was seen on Bostan Khan Road from Chaklala Scheme III to the Lahore High Court Rawalpindi bench.

Akram Hameed, who lives in Akalgarh, said cattle markets should be established in grounds instead of on main roads, which is where cattle vendors have set up makeshift pens.

Kartarpura resident Hassan Ali said that a few years ago, a cattle market was allowed at the main ground on Khayaban-i-Sir Syed, which was a good decision. He said the government should allocate sales points after carrying out surveys of the area.

The district administration should establish sales points in different areas so people can save on transportation charges, Chaklala Scheme III resident Jameel Ahmed said. He added that animals are already expensive, and with the recent surge in petroleum prices people will have to pay more to bring their animals home.

RMC Chief Municipal Officer Khawaja Imran Safdar could not be reached for comment, but a senior RMC official said teams had cleared the city of illegal cattle pens and asked vendors to stick to allocated points.

He said cleanliness was the responsibility of the Rawalpindi Waste Management Company and traffic should be controlled by the traffic police. He added that these points will be free of any taxes.

The official said that in the past, the civic body confiscated animals of those who set up makeshift pens in parts of the city, but lacked the staff and space to do so this time.

Published in Dawn, August 5th, 2019