Cattle markets set up on roads violating govt ban
Instead of staying inside Armanitola playground, leased out by Dhaka South City Corporation for a makeshift market for sacrificial animals, cattle traders showcase cows for sale on adjoining Babubazar Road in violation of a government ban on such markets on the city's roads ahead of Eid-ul Azha. The photo was taken yesterday.Photo: Anisur Rahman
In violation of a government decision, some makeshift markets for sacrificial animals have been set up on the capital's streets, creating public nuisance and traffic gridlock. An inter-ministerial coordination meeting on October 3 decided not to allow the markets on roads and highways to avoid traffic gridlock ahead of Eid-ul Azha. With eid still four days away, city dwellers are apprehending severe traffic congestion as it has become a common phenomenon for the markets, leased out on fields and open spaces, to spill out on adjoining roads. This correspondent yesterday found one such market in Kamalapur's Balurmath taking up Kamalapur Culvert Road, roads before Sadeque Hossain Khoka community centre in Gopibagh and Dakkhin Kamalapur Bazar Road. Mizanur Rahman, owner of a departmental store on Dakkhin Kamalapur Bazar Road, said the annual market causes his sales to drop by fifty percent. Another market in Adarsha School field and its adjoining open spaces in Golapbagh took up two sides of Dhalpur Road. Meanwhile, another market in the roadside open space in Baridhara Block J spilled out onto its adjoining internal roads. Being set up for the first time, the market is causing severe traffic congestion in Baridhara Natunbazar, said the locals. Stating that the cattle on the roads belonged to the locals, Saifuddin Lavlu, in-charge of the Kamalapur market, feared that keeping the streets free would be difficult once the flow of the animals increase. Dhaka South City Corporation Chief Estate Officer Tazul Islam Prodhan said they would start mobile courts against the markets on the streets from today.
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