Every Id, the cattle mandi in east Delhi’s Ghazipur comes to life. This is the time when the demand for buffalo meat shoots up in the city, with thousands of animals sold at the market on the festival. This year, however, trade shrunk considerably in the aftermath of the Ballabgarh episode, where 17-year-old Junaid was stabbed to death by a group of people who also allegedly called him a beef eater.
Mohammad Irfan, a member of the buffalo traders’ association, said the number of animals sold on Id this time around reduced to a mere 500 from 3,000 in 2016.
“The number of buffaloes sold every day has also come down to 1,200-1,400 from 2,000-2,200 earlier,” said Mr. Irfan.
Factors at play
But, can the fall in cattle sales be attributed to a single incident? Traders feel that the controversy surrounding cow slaughter and harassment of transporters in the name of animal cruelty have adversely affected the meat and dairy trades in the Capital.
There have been cases where gau rakshaks (cow vigilantes)thrashed people transporting cattle in the city, threatened them with arson, or forced them to cough up bribes.
Traders said even people holding permits to transport cattle were targeted. On July 7, six such traders who were carrying buffalo calves to a slaughter house in Ghazipur were allegedly beaten up and their animals taken away from them.
The accused are yet to be identified.
Shortage of cattle
The city gets its supply of cattle from Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan. Increasing cow vigilantism in these States has also led to a shortage of cattle in the Capital.
Surender Kaushik, who runs a dairy near the Ghazipur market, alleged his employee Balbir was thrashed by gau rakshaks month when he was transporting a cow to the city from Haryana.
“Even the police fear mobs,” said Mr. Kaushik.
Buffalo traders’ association president Aaqil said he had written to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Police Commissioner Amulya Patnaik highlighting such incidents. The response, however, hasn’t been encouraging.
Dwindling profits
The shortage of cattle has also led to dwindling profit margins for traders.
“Buffaloes with better quality of meat are sold first, fetching around ₹160 a kilogram. The remaining ones are exported at ₹140 per kilogram. With a shortage of cattle, there are fewer good-quality buffaloes to choose from,” said Mr. Irfan.
The confusion over the ban on sale of cattle for slaughter at animal markets has also hit supply.
Meat retailers of Nizamuddin and some restaurants that serve buffalo meat expressed concerns over poor business.
Mr. Aaqil said farmers who supplied cattle had given up the trade temporarily and would resume only if the situation improved.
Cattle transporters, too, are in a tough spot.
“From drivers refusing to ply truck with animals to policemen increasing the extortion money that they would usually charge, we are as affected as anybody else. The situation needs to change,” said Ramesh, a transporter from Jind in Haryana.