Anisul Islam Noor :
The country will import 10 lakh cattle from India ahead of Eid-ul Azha. The cattle will come through 31 points in the border as both governments have talked recently in this regard and agreed positively, said Headayetullah Al Mamun , Senior Secretary of the ministry.
Estimated demand for animal during the Eid-ul Azha is about 70 lakh of which local farmers supply around 60 lakh already have in local farmers and the rest 10 lakh requirement would be met through import, he told The New Nation on Tuesday.
Statistics of the Department of Livestock showed that the number of cattle slaughtered as sacrificial animal during the Eid-ul Azha had doubled in last five years. A total of 66.41 lakh cattle, including cow, buffalo, goat, sheep and other animals, were slaughtered as sacrificial animals during the Eid-ul-Azha in 2014.
The Indian government has restricted cattle trading in the border areas with Bangladesh in April, resulting the jumping of meat price at Tk400 per kg from Tk300 per kg. Bangladesh government was recently able to convince the Indian policy makers to ease cattle movement across the border, sources said.
BSF and BGB have unofficially agreed about the cattle trade and that they not fire on traders during border crossing through 31 points of border.
Commerce Secretary Al Mamun said that people should not be panicked about sacrificial animal during upcoming Eid-ul Azha as cattle are coming in as part of cross border trade.
Monitoring teams are working in different areas of the country to take preventive measure against applying harmful medicine in animal body, the secretary said.
The Department of Livestock’s (DLS) official said that the commerce ministry was mandated to allow entry of cattle from India at the checkpoints where veterinary officers were posted to carry out medical check-up of the cattle.
But illegal entry of cattle are taking places without check, he said, adding that syndicates of traders were bringing even diseased cattle to sell them in the Eid market at lower prices to make extra profit.
