HYDERABAD:  With government-run cattle markets not functioning properly due to the Coronavirus pandemic, meat traders in Telangana are having a tough time accruing livestock ahead of Eid-ul-Adha on August 1. Every year, various cattle markets maintained by the government prop up in each district in the State with an aim to give safe access to wholesalers, meat traders and farmers to buy or sell cattle under the ambit of the law. 

People throng these markets in large numbers before Bakrid to buy cattle for qurbani - the ritual sacrifice of a livestock animal during Eid al-Adha. However, this year the government-run cattle markets have not opened at many places in lieu of the pandemic. 

Mohammed Moinuddin Qureshi, a meat trader and exporter, told Express, “We are being forced to go to the villages to meet farmers to get cattle. But, there we are facing opposition from locals as they fear it might lead to the spread of Coronavirus. They tell us to conduct our business outside the boundaries of their village.” “I appeal to the government to open up these markets. If there are social distancing norms in place, then the markets will be successful,” reiterated Mohammed Moinuddin Qureshi, who has businesses all over Telangana including Karimnagar, Siddipet, Ganeshpur and so on. 

Abdul Faheem Qureshi, an advocate and president of the All India Jamiatul Quresh Action Committee — a body which looks after the welfare of meat traders — said that the lack of selling points for meat was translating into low supply. “The demand for meat is going to remain the same, but with these markets not reopening properly, the prices are going to get higher soon,” said Qureshi. He said that usually the retail price for legal cattle meat would only be around Rs 200 per kg. “However, it is already between `320 and `360 per kg now. This is going to increase further,” he added.