Sale of animals on streets banned

The Metropolitan Corporation Rawalpindi, the Cantonment Board Rawalpindi and Cantonment Board Chaklala have banned the sale of sacrificial animals on stalls or streets on the occasion of Eidul Azha.

Rawalpindi Deputy Commissioner Tahir Farooq has issued a notification regarding the ban. According to the notification, violation of the ban will result in the confiscation of animals and the imposition of fines.

The three civic bodies have also approved a cleaning plan for four days of Eidul Azha. Under the clean-up plan, all sanitation workers across the city will have their four-day vacation cancelled.

In addition to regular sanitary workers, 300 new temporary daily wage employees will be recruited for four days who will be paid an allowance for four days.

The three institutions have also approved hiring heavy and light machinery from the private sector for six to eight days to lift sacrificial animals’ waste and for other cleaning purposes.

The Cantonment Board Rawalpindi will hire eight dumpers, 24 jack trolleys, three shovels, 34 open pick-ups and four excavators from the private sector.

The Cantonment Board Chaklala has also approved procuring the same number of machinery while the corporation and solid waste management department have also decided to provide handcarts and loader rickshaws to the sanitary workers for the narrow streets of Rawalpindi.

The chief executive officer of the corporation said that under the sanitation plan, 3,500 workers would go to every street and pick up hides of sacrificial animals from outside the houses.

These workers will pick up waste from the streets and place them on the road from where big vehicles will pick them up after every three hours and dispose it of at the landfill sites.

Sanitary workers will visit the streets every three to four hours from 9 am to 12 (midnight) to collect the waste and hides of sacrificial animals.

Special large bags will also be distributed to all citizens to put the hides of sacrificial animals and keep them outside. Lime powder will also be spread in the streets under the sanitation plan.

On the three days of Eid, sanitation work will continue till midnight. Waste of the sacrificial animals will be picked up daily and disposed of on the same day.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 1^st, 2022.