An Illegal cattle market has been set up along the train line in the capital’s Golapbagh area. The photo was taken on Wednesday. — Sanaul Haque
All the makeshift cattle markets in the capital have extended beyond their designated spots hampering traffic on different roads while many of them started assembling cattle much ahead of the stipulated time, Wednesday, in breach of rules.
This year, a high inflow of cattle was seen at the 23 makeshift markets — 15 in Dhaka South City Corporation area and eight in the Dhaka North City Corporation area — set up to mitigate city dwellers’ hassle in buying sacrificial animals for Eid-ul-Azha to be celebrated on September 2.
But sale of the sacrificial animals was yet to start, said cattle traders.
Locals have complained that the leaseholders allowed many cattle traders to set up structures on roads hampering traffic, erect a number of arches in crowded areas and dig roads at many spots to set tents to keep cattle much before the schedule — four days including the Eid day.
City corporation officials have said that these are clear violations of the terms and conditions of contract but the authorities are yet to take any actions against the errant leaseholders.
Setting up markets hampering traffic not only violated the lease contract, but also ignored a High Court order, said DSCC chief estate officer Kamrul Islam Chowdhury.
Without permission of the authorities concerned, local influential people have also set up a number of illegal makeshift cattle markets in different residential areas, with the authorities doing nothing in this regard, locals have complained.
DNCC chief estate officer Aminul Islam said they have asked the law enforcement agencies to take actions against the illegal cattle markets.
City corporation officials said they set 25 conditions for the leaseholders during the contract and kept options for taking actions, including fine, in case of any violation.
Locals said the leaseholders could breach the terms as there was no supervision by the authorities concerned.
DSCC officials said they started monitoring the markets with three monitoring teams, led by an executive magistrate and 11 others, to ensure that the terms and conditions were maintained.
DNCC officials also said that they instructed law enforcement agencies for monitor the cattle markets.
During visits to different markets, violations of the conditions and a number of irregularities were seen.
The leaseholders of the market at Dhupkhola have built a number of arches on roads and set up bamboo structures digging roads, blocked the nearby roads and extended the market to another playground of the city corporation.
In the same way, the leaseholder of the cattle market at Golapbagh Stadium also set up structures on roads but no shed and security facilities for the traders were arranged.
At Gabtoli cattle market, a number of sheds have been set up on the adjacent Gabtoli-Sadarghat road disrupting traffic while security measures were not adequate.
The leaseholders claimed they set up the structures to let people know that there was a market.
Cattle traders Sanower Hossain from Harinakundu in Jhenaidah, who came to the Dhupkhola cattle market with 17 bulls, told New Age that the leaseholders did not manage any shed, leaving the cattle to get wet in rain or endure the sun.
Traders said security and shelter were the biggest problems they were facing.
The cattle traders of the markets said that they were yet to start selling animals and the buyers were just asking about the price.
Source: New Age
