& çâÌæÚUæð´ ·¤è ¥ôÚU Îð¹Ùæ ÁæÚUè ÚU¹ð´ ¥ÍæüÌ ¥ÂÙð ÜÿØ ÂÚU ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´Ð ãæÚU Ù ×æÙð´, €UØô´ç·¤ ·¤æ× ·¤ÚUÙð âð ¥æÂ·¤ô ©gðàØ ·¤è Âýæç# ãôÌè ãñ ¥õÚU ÁèßÙ ·¤æ ¹æÜèÂÙ ÎêÚU ãôÌæ ãñÐ ÖÜð ãè ÁèßÙ ×ð´ ç·¤ÌÙè Öè ·¤çÆÙæ§ü €UØô´ Ù ¥æ°, çÁ™ææâæ ¥õÚU ©ˆâæã ÕÙæ° ÚU¹ð´Ð ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´, ÜÿØ ã×ðàææ ¥æÂ·Ô¤ Âæâ ãôÌð ãñ´ çÁ‹ãð´ ÂæÙð ·Ô¤ çÜ° ÂýØæâ ¥æÂ ·¤Öè Öè àæéM¤ ·¤ÚU â·¤Ìð ãñ´Ð

Cattle Markets in Capital

Sales yet to gain momentum

Low customer presence, abundance of cattle

Helemul Alam
Although the capital's 20 cattle markets are brimming with sacrificial animals and there are only two days left for Eid-ul-Azha, sales are yet to gain momentum due to a low presence of customers till yesterday.
Cattle traders are hoping for a boost in sales from today, the start of a four-day holiday for Durga Puja and Eid.
Most of the customers The Daily Star talked to yesterday expressed satisfaction over the prices, which they stated were low compared to last year's.
Showing a bull he bought forTk 24,000 from a market in the East End Club playground, Raihanul Alam, a Gendaria resident, estimated that he had bought a bull of the same size last year but had paid Tk 6,000 more.
A trader, Zamal Uddin, who arrived in the Nayabazar market on Friday from Kushtia with 35 bulls, lamented that he was able to sell only two till yesterday, that too incurring a Tk 10,000 loss.
Having faced a loss ofTk 5 lakh last year and hoping to recuperate this time, he has taken the sale of cattle at low prices as an ominous sign and was readily selling off his animals.
The low price, even in markets outside Dhaka, resulted from the arrival of a huge number of bulls from India, he assumed.
Apart from local breeds, the markets are adorned with cattle native to India's Haryana, Bhutan, Nepal and Australia.
Another trader in Nayabazar, Rashed Sikdar said he had breeds of all the aforementioned, collected mostly from Kushtia and Faridpur, but was asking the highest, Tk 6 lakh, fora local breed.
One trader, Imran, had put up one of his seven cattle native to Bhutan, locally known as Bhutti, for sale atTk 70,000.
Though the animal, like the other six, may look like a small healthy calf with its height barely reaching 2.5 feet and weight measuring around 80 kilogrammes, it is fully grown. Some people specifically ask for this breed for the distinct taste ofits meat, he said, adding, "We collected them from around die country' and reared them for less than one year in our dairy' fann in Mohammadpur."
H e had a goat too, for which he was exorbitantly asking for Tk 50,000 for "weighing around 50 kilogrammes".
Another Rajasthani breed most sought after by the country's beef connoisseurs for its meat being extra tender with a distinct flavour is found exclusively in the Rahmatganj market and reared only in Mirkadim, an area in Munshiganj.
However, The Daily Star found two such cows, with their distinctive white appearance from the horns to the tail with a reddish tint, in the Nayabazar market, pricedTk 2 lakh each.