Inflation takes a bite out of Qurbani ritual

Customers are returning from markets empty-handed after failing to strike bargains with vendors

RAWALPINDI:

With the government declaring the two days leading up to Eid as holidays, the twin cities’ markets are now brimming with people hoping to finish up their shopping sprees as well as finalising a sacrificial animal to fulfil their religious duties.

It is the latter part, however, that has left customers scratching their heads as the double-digit inflation has taken a toll on sacrificial animals as well.

In the past it was common to see customers walking out of cattle markets with an animal of choice but this time around disgruntled residents of the twin cities, shaking their heads in disbelief, can be seen walking out of the markets set up in Bhata Ground on Adiala Road, Rawalpindi and sector 1-15 of Islamabad.

One such customer, who identified himself as Muhammad Naseer, told The Express Tribune that he had come all the way from the Raja Bazar area to Bhata Ground to see if he could get a good deal.

“I drove nearly 40 minutes in Rawalpindi’s chaotic traffic, only to be left disappointed. A similar goat I got for Rs 30,000 last year is now priced at Rs50,000.”

A despondent Naseer further informed that the starting price for bulls was Rs230,000 whereas last year it was Rs150,000.

Another customer, Zubair Ahmed, who was browsing in the I-15 Islamabad market, said that he had visited nearly all of the livestock vendors in the twin cities. He was of the view that it was useless to visit every market as everyone was charging the same exorbitant rates.

When asked what he had in mind vis a vis offering a sacrifice, Ahmed cleverly responded that he would buy an animal on the second day of Eid when there was a drastic decline in prices due to lack of demand and then partake in the religious ritual.

While some will follow Ahmed’s idea, others have chosen to offer a collective sacrifice. Akbar Malik, from the Westridge Cantt area, said that his neighbourhood was pitching in to buy an animal as buying one of their own was way out of budget.

“However, collective sacrificial rates have gone up as well. Last year the per person share was Rs 25,000 but this time around it is Rs 40,000,” Malik lamented, adding that it was impossible to find a good goat for Rs 40,000 so he had no other choice but to pool in.

Vendors in the cities’ cattle markets, on the other hand, are of the view that the high prices are not their doing.

Mustafa Baloch, the contractor for the Bhata Ground market, informed that the contract alone had cost him Rs80 million. As a result of the steep contract price, Baloch is now charging the vendors of Bhata Ground an entry fee of Rs3,000 per animal for bigger ones and Rs2,000 for smaller ones.

Safdar, a trader in the same market, who was beckoning customers towards him, told The Express Tribune that apart from the entry fee he also had to pay high transport and animal feed costs, therefore he had no choice but to charge customers more.

Similarly, the contract for the sector I-15 market, went for roughly Rs 50 million and the entry fee is Rs 2,700 for bigger livestock whereas Rs1,500 for the smaller ones, as per vendors.

Malik Imtiaz, a trader in the market, concurring with Safdar’s views, said that customers did not realise that it had become expensive to maintain the animals throughout the year.

“The inflation impacts animal feed, rent, and manpower rates as well. Ideally, we want to make a profit after investing so much in the animal. So the customers will have to put up with these prices,” Imtiaz told The Express Tribune.