Sylhet Correspondent :
One kind of dishonest businessmen busy selling birds at the Rathjatra Mela, a traditional fair in Sylhet city, organised every year to celebrate ‘Rathjatra’, a festival of the Hindu community.
Usually a fair is an opportunity for vendors to sell variety of goods like spices, sweets and other domestic products to attract visitors. But the Rath-er Mela in Lamabazar road area takes a different turn at night, where many traders flock with local and migratory birds, kept in cages.
During most of the day, Putai, a trader from Fenchuganj near Hakaluki haor, sits around and enjoys the fair, but as night falls he gets extremely busy selling birds at the Rath-er Mela.
‘I’ve been selling birds for many years. Some even buy birds from me to please others, and also sent those to the capital as gifts,’ he said, pointing at the cages full of birds kept in front of him. These birds are caught at different water bodies including Hail, Tanguar and Hakaluki haor, he said.
‘My son wanted a myna for a long time,’said Turab Ali of the city, who bought one for Tk 1,600. When asked, why he was buying a bird caught and sold illegally by the traders, he did not answer.
According to Climate-Resilient Ecosystems and Livelihoods and International Union for Conservation of Nature, Bangladesh, more than 50 species of migratory birds flock in the haor areas. With their arrivals, the traders and poachers also become active.
While visiting the fair around 9:00pm on Monday, this correspondent found that birds were being sold unabated there. Some traders were even seen selling birds throughout the day.
A pair of kalem was being sold at Tk 500-2,000, pair of shalik at Tk 300-700, parrot at Tk 700-3,000, myna at Tk 3,000-7,000, pair of ghughu at Tk 300-1,500 and migratory birds at Tk 700-30,000 each.
One kind of dishonest businessmen busy selling birds at the Rathjatra Mela, a traditional fair in Sylhet city, organised every year to celebrate ‘Rathjatra’, a festival of the Hindu community.
Usually a fair is an opportunity for vendors to sell variety of goods like spices, sweets and other domestic products to attract visitors. But the Rath-er Mela in Lamabazar road area takes a different turn at night, where many traders flock with local and migratory birds, kept in cages.
During most of the day, Putai, a trader from Fenchuganj near Hakaluki haor, sits around and enjoys the fair, but as night falls he gets extremely busy selling birds at the Rath-er Mela.
‘I’ve been selling birds for many years. Some even buy birds from me to please others, and also sent those to the capital as gifts,’ he said, pointing at the cages full of birds kept in front of him. These birds are caught at different water bodies including Hail, Tanguar and Hakaluki haor, he said.
‘My son wanted a myna for a long time,’said Turab Ali of the city, who bought one for Tk 1,600. When asked, why he was buying a bird caught and sold illegally by the traders, he did not answer.
According to Climate-Resilient Ecosystems and Livelihoods and International Union for Conservation of Nature, Bangladesh, more than 50 species of migratory birds flock in the haor areas. With their arrivals, the traders and poachers also become active.
While visiting the fair around 9:00pm on Monday, this correspondent found that birds were being sold unabated there. Some traders were even seen selling birds throughout the day.
A pair of kalem was being sold at Tk 500-2,000, pair of shalik at Tk 300-700, parrot at Tk 700-3,000, myna at Tk 3,000-7,000, pair of ghughu at Tk 300-1,500 and migratory birds at Tk 700-30,000 each.
