Shawdesh Desk:

With the Eid-ul-Azha drawing nearer, many cattle-laden trucks, mostly from the South and South-Western districts, are heading towards the capital and other cities through Padma Bridge.

The Padma Bridge has reduced the hassles in the transportation of sacrificial animals ahead of Eid-ul-Azha, cattle traders said. The traders told the Daily Sun that Padma Bridge made it easier for them to transport cattle to the capital and other cities including Chattogram ahead of Eid.

A large number of cattle-laden trucks were seen crossing the Padma Bridge. The number of cattle-laden trucks has increased manifold over the last few days.

Wholesale cattle buyers from different parts of the country, including Barishal, Noakhali, Shariatpur, Pirojpur, Bhola, Patuakhali, Barguna, Faridpur, Madaripur, Magura, Meherpur, Kushtia, Jashore, Narail, Chuadanga, Jhenaidah, and Khulna are busy carrying trucks of sacrificial animals to markets in cities, nearly a week ahead of Eid-ul Azha.

Abdul Latif, a cattle trader from Kanaipur of Faridpur district, said, “Earlier we had to spend several hours for ferries at different terminals. Sometimes, the sacrificial animals fell sick or died during lengthy journeys at the ferry ghats.”

“This time, easier transportation through Padma Bridge is helping the cattle traders transport sacrificial animal without any delay or hassle of waiting,” he said, adding that all traders are transporting their cattle through Padma Bridge.

“We hope that people will buy more sacrificial animals this year after lower volumes of the sale in the last two years due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The demand for animals would go up this year,” he said.

“Padma Bridge will help increase the supply of sacrificial animals from the southeastern part of the country,” he added.

Fisheries and Livestock Minister SM Rezaul Karim said Padma Bridge has created incredible opportunities for organising cattle markets.

Some 879,251 sacrificial animals are available in Khulna Division; some 378,543 in Barishal Division and some 637,196 animals are available in Dhaka Division, according to the Fisheries and Livestock Ministry.

Another cattle trader from Kushtia, Rajib Raju, said, “Padma Bridge has eliminated our miseries in animal transportation this time.”

He also said prices for sacrificial animals would go up this year due to higher food, medicine and transportation cost.

High tolls on the Padma Bridge route will also increase the price of sacrificial animals this year, he added. A large number of cows, goats and buffalo were seen arriving at the makeshift cattle market in the Capital on Monday.

The country has a stock of 1.21 crore sacrificial animals this year for the Eid-ul-Azha against the demand for around 97 lakh, according to data from the Fisheries and Livestock Ministry.

The number of sacrificial animals was hovering around 1.19 crore last year.