The cattle shandy at Karungalpalayam that was affected by restriction on cash transactions due to elections witnessed brisk trading activities here on Thursday.
Hundreds of farmers from various parts of the State and traders from Kerala, Karnataka and other parts of the State carru out business activities on every Thursdays as it is one of the biggest shandies in the district.
Usually over 1,500 cattle are traded and transactions worth ₹ 3 crore are carried out. But after the model code of conduct came into force in the second week of March, due to intensified vehicle checks and seizure of cash without valid documents, traders could not carry cash over ₹ 50,000. Hence, only a few hundred cattle were brought and the business dropped to less than ₹ 1.5 crore. Also, traders did not turn up in large numbers to purchase cattle and were waiting for the elections to be over in the State.
Also, traders and farmers were demanding relaxation of poll code as the polling was over on April 18. On Thursday, farmers and traders arrived in large numbers and carried out their business as usual. They said that since polling was over, they are confident that their cash that is brought for purchasing cattle would not be seized by the election officials. Farmers added that after five weeks, business was as usual and said that traders purchased cattle in large numbers than usual.