Shahjalal Firoz, a resident of Banani in Dhaka, brought a goat to the city corporation abattoir near Mohakhali Bus Terminal for slaughter on the morning of Eid-ul-Azha Monday, reports bdnews24.com.
He saved 25 percent costs of slaughter and meat processing as per the Dhaka North City Corporation’s announcement, but was the only one person enjoying the benefits at 10:30am.
Most of the people started slaughtering cattle and processing meat haphazardly on main streets, alleys or the premises of their house after the Eid congregations early in the morning.
The practice, which has been continuing for years despite the authorities’ efforts to clean up the mess swiftly by designating places for Eid cattle slaughter, turned the city into a place difficult to move around without stepping on blood and other waste materials from slaughtered cattle by midday.
Like previous years, the situation is likely to get worse in the coming days as the piles of wastes and blood will rot and spread foul smell.
Despite the two city corporations of Dhaka allocating specific spots for sacrificing cattle in the capital, the designated spots largely went unused with citizens performing the Korbani ritual on the streets of Rampura's Wapda Road on Eid-ul-Azha on Monday. Photo: Mostafigur Rahman
Shahjalal, a retired banker, wondered why the people were indifferent to using the fixed places.
“The city corporation has arranged a wonderful place for cattle slaughter. Everything is here, even the transport to take the meat home. Why are the people not becoming aware?” he asked.
He pointed the finger at the people in charge as well by firing a volley of questions: “Where are the city corporation councillors? Haven’t they sacrificed cattle this time? Haven’t the mayors sacrificed cattle? Then why is this slaughterhouse empty?”
To know the answers, bdnews24.com called Dhaka South Mayor Mohammad Sayeed Khokon and Dhaka North Mayor Atiqul Islam. None took the phone calls.
Both completed the job of animal sacrifice at their homes – Khokon at Banani and Atiqul at Uttara, according to Uttam Kumar Roy and ASM Mamun, the spokespersons for DSCC and DNCC respectively.
It would take some time to remove all the wastes because they defied the instruction to use the designated places for animal sacrifice, Mayor Atiqul said while launching the work to remove cattle waste in Uttara.
DSCC Chief Waste Management Officer Manjur Hossain also said the workers were facing difficulties removing cattle waste.