SUKKUR: People of Sukkur are visiting the local cattle market to buy sacrificial animals for the Eid-ul-Azha, as the Sukkur Municipal Corporation (SMC) has made arrangements to facilitate both the cattle traders and buyers.
The management of the market has allocated separate sections for cows, oxen, buffaloes, goats and sheep to facilitate the buyers.
People of Sukkur and its adjoining areas visiting the market were seen taking interest in buying big animals, saying that they could not perform individual sacrifice as the prices of goats and sheep were beyond their reach.
A visit to the cattle market on Monday showed traders bringing in sacrificial animals, including cows and buffaloes to Sukkur from different parts of the northern Sindh, but the buying activity was yet to pick up.
Traders said that most of the cattle were arriving from Shikarpur, Kandhkot, Saleh Putt and Pano Akil, adding that the transportation charges have been increased.
“Compared to last year the local tax at different cattle markets in Sindh has been doubled, said one Saleem Bhutti, who had been in the business for over a decade.
He alleged that the cattle traders had to pay varying amounts of extortion money to police at different points to reach the market. In such a situation they are forced to increase prices of sacrificial animals to meet their expenditure and earn some profit, he added.
Another cattle trader, Riaz Hussain Samo said that they had to stay in hotels and wait in search of healthy livestock at different markets in Sukkur, Khairpur and Ghotki and thus spent thousands of rupees during the process to purchase animals.
He said that the rising cost of transportation charges, medicines and grass including rent at cattle markets had caused about a 100 per cent increase in animal prices compared to the previous year.
Ghulam Shabir Phull of Thari Mirwah taluka said that the rates of local cattle heads were reasonable, but these were not enough to meet even half of the demand.