Unauthorized cattle markets in urban areas.
(Nabeela Waheed, Islamabad)
There is a mass movement of
cattle from rural areas to urban centers due Eidul Azha, the second largest
religious festival for the Muslims and cattle markets in the urban areas have
gained momentum with numerous buyers and hundreds of sacrificial animals. Small
herds of goats and cows can be seen all over the city, being fed and sold from
narrow platforms and roadsides. Seeing the increasing number of such ‘markets’
at different junctions in the city, mostly people have set up illegal markets
.beside all other dangerous effects on human health it can be make a cause of
the traffic jams and sanitation problems. People visit on these smaller stalls
because they are lot cheaper than legal big markets but they do not worry how it
can be effect on human health and also it brings the risk of unhealthy animals
that may not be fit for slaughtering and worse, might be carrying various
diseases such as the Congo virus and smelly air because of the market. It also
becomes difficult to keep the children away from the animals as they are an
unusual sight. City development authority and police should play active role to
established and ensured that all stalls and markets should outside the
residential zones to maintain sanitation , hygiene as well as security and avoid
all others hazard to public health and danger to human life and property.