Before Eid: Animal sales spill over onto streets despite ban

Vendors say its harder to sell from markets because of tough competition.

LAHORE:

Small animal traders have been violating a ban on the sale or purchase of animals in the city anywhere other than at six designated markets.

The city government has banned the sale of animals outside the six markets under Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code.

But vendors roaming the streets with small groups of animals for sale are common sights in parts of Johar Town, Faisal Town, Iqbal Town, Sabzazar, Shahdara, Shahdara Town, Gulberg, Nishter Town and Mughalpura.

The six designated animal markets are currently packed with customers and sellers. Jamal Muhammad said he brought four of his animals for sale to the city, alongside his uncle who brought two trucks full of animals.

“The markets are good for traders who have a lot of animals,” he said, adding that it was easier to sell on the streets because there was a lot of competition in the markets. He said that he had sold two of his animals in Sabzazar at decent rates.

Asked if he was worried about being fined and his animals confiscated, he said that he was not aware of any ban. He said when “thousands of people” were roaming the city with sacrificial animals, he didn’t think he would be fined.

Shahadat Ali was selling his animals on the streets in Johar Town on Thursday. He said that he had not sold any animal at the LDA Avenue Market on Monday or Tuesday, but had sold two in Johar Town on Wednesday. He said that he was hopeful he would be able to soon sell his third animal and then be on his way back to Sheikhupura.

Ali said that he had seen two vendors get nabbed by town officials near the Shaukat Khanam Memorial Hospital, but added that they were not doing anything wrong. “Will the government be banning people from taking their goats out onto the streets to show off to their neighbours, which is a common practice in Punjab?” he said.

Mirza Muzaffar Beg, the Aziz Bhatti town municipal officer (TMO), said that vendors caught selling animals outside of cattle markets were being fined Rs5,000 and getting their wares confiscated. He said the fines were being handed out under the Punjab Local Governments Ordinance. He did not know how many fines had been handed out in total.

Samanabad TMO Imtiaz Awan and Iqbal Town TMO Saleem Khan said that they were devoting all available resources to curbing animal sales outside the designated markets in the remaining days before Eid. Neither could say how many had been fined for illegal animal sales.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 26^th, 2012.