Bakrid celebrations this year are likely to be without the usual fervour amid rising coronavirus cases and restriction in view of the pandemic. With restrictions in place in various states, animal traders are also suffering huge losses.
Animal traders in various parts of the country have suffered huge losses as shopping of sacrificial animals for Eid-ul-Adha has been hit due to COVID-19 pandemic.
Eid-al-Adha celebrations this year are likely to be without the usual fervour amid rising coronavirus cases and restriction in view of the pandemic.
A festival of sacrifice in Islam, Eid-ul-Adha will be celebrated on August 1 this year. The festival is also called a Bakrid in India due to the associated sacrifice of animals, mostly goats. Eid-ul-Adha is celebrated on the tenth day of Dhu al-Hijjah, the twelfth and final month in the Islamic calendar.
Authorities in various states have issued guidelines, advising people to offer congregational prayers on Eid at home. Due to lockdown and social distancing in various states, the transport of animals and sale has also been affected.
Here are views from animal markets from across the country:
1. Sheep being sold in Srinagar
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Sheep being sold in Srinagar: These markets are following corona SOP and are purely legal.
The district administration in Srinagar has allowed shops to from 9 am to 5 pm on July 29, 30. Shops to open with strict adherence to COVID-19 preventive guidelines. Maximum penalties in the form of sealings, fines will be imposed against violators.
Essential services shops will open for two days on 29 and 30 July with strict adherence to notified COVID-19 preventive guidelines in Srinagar, the district administration said. The two-day relaxation in lockdown has been given in view of the Eid festival later this week, a spokesman said.
Like the rest of the country, the Union Territories of Jammu & Kashmir have been hit by the corona virus pandemic. According to official numbers released by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, 7,749 cases have been reported in the region along with 333 reported deaths.
2. J&K animal traders suffer loss
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Animal traders in Rajouri say they are unable to sell goats at viable prices, resulting in heavy losses for them this year during Bakrid, due to the ongoing COVID19 pandemic.The Bakra mandi in Rajouri wore a deserted look on Thursday as sellers lined up their animals but without any prospective buyers.
Few buyers have turned up this year to buy goats for the upcoming Eid-ul-Adha festivities in the southern Kashmiri town, due to the ongoing COVID19 pandemic."We are unable to realise the due price of each animal to give us any margin of viable profit," said one trader while talking to ANI.
Another trader Ashfaq Ahmed said that the people from his village who make a living by selling these animals have run into losses this year.
Pointing at one of his goats, "Last year I would sell this same goat for around Rs 60,000. Now I can barely manage to get Rs 20,000 out of it.
"Another trader said that they had wait an entire year to raise the sacrificial animals with a lot of care, to be sold on this day. "We rear these animals with a lot of care and attention only to realise their full potential to make a sale on this day. We put in a lot of effort in transporting them here. But this year due to the pandemic, we are still sitting here without any customer," he concluded.
3. Animals starve at Maharashtra border
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Hundreds of trucks carrying goats For the ritual of sacrifice on Bakrid are stranded at Mumbai's entry points as they are not allowed to sell the animals in public, resulting in many animals dying of starvation. Animal traders have now demanded a compensation from the Maharashtra government for the losses suffered by them.
As per Maharashtra government guidelines, people have been asked to offer prayers at home and purchase sacrificial animals online or over the phone. People have been asked to offer namaz at home instead of mosques and also purchase sacrificial animals online or over the phone.
The guidelines also called for the symbolic celebration of Bakri Eid, also known as Eid al-Adha. Chief minister Uddhav Thackeray-led government in the state has also urged that "qurbani" or ritual animal sacrifice preferably be done symbolically, considering the lockdown norms and containment zone restrictions.
4. Relaxations in West Bengal
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West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee announced on Tuesday that the lockdown in the containment zones of the state will continue till August 31 as also the biweekly restrictions in place to check the spread of the coronavirus disease.
"The biweekly lockdown will be implemented mostly on Saturdays and Sundays. But since festivals like Eid as also Independence Day are happening on Saturdays, lockdown will be enforced on some other day," she said.
5. BBMP warns against slaughter in open
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The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palika (BBMP) on Wednesday issued a notice restricting the sacrifice of animals during Bakrid or other religious occasions in certain places.
"The administration has prohibited the sacrifice of animals in public roads, footpaths, inside or outside the premises of hospitals/nursing homes, schools and colleges, temples mosques, other religious places or public places," the BBMP said in a public notice.Person or organisation violating the notice is liable to be prosecuted under the relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code, stated BBMP.
