NEWS report from Rajshahi said 30 cattle traders had fallen ill on Monday after taking food from a local restaurant closer to a cattle market and they were rushed to the local hospital where one of them died and the rest were treated in critical condition. The hospital sources said the food had poisonous contamination and given the situation it appears that criminals have doped them to take away their cash. The restaurant owner is absconding while his son and some service boys have been taken into custody.
On the same day the Inspector General of Police (IGP) has warned the police asking them not to stop sacrificial animal laden trucks on the highway to check papers and on such pretext if they have no serious information that need to carry out checking of the vehicles. He made the warning in view of the allegations that police are resorting to toll collection from traders by stopping transports on the highway in the name of checking.
But the problem yet remains centering the ruling party cadres who are laying traps at many points in the highways and river routes for toll collection from cattle traders on their way to bringing the animals to the city and moving them from one place to another across the country. Even if police refrain from toll collection, party cadres will not and it is also unbelievable that police will refrain from asking for toll respecting the IGP’s instruction.
What appears is that cattle traders are vulnerable from three pronged attacks from thugs and police and ruling party cadres at every point on the way in their long journey with cattle herds from local market to city markets. In metropolis Dhaka the two City Corporations are leasing out local makeshift markets to sell the animals. But crime syndicates are already on wait to cheat the traders. Needless to say that the IGP has made the timely warning but the past experience showed criminals dominate the scene at the peak hours and mislead the traders and make the mischief robbing their cash and other belonging whenever they get the scope.
Eid-ul-Azha is a highly auspicious occasion when as far as the trading of sacrificial cattle is concerned, several thousands crore of taka change hands throughout the country. What is important is the need for vigilance by all sections of market players on this occasion while the security forces are expected to keep the vigil all around. In our view this vigil also must continue after the festival is over to stop the smuggling of hides and skins across the border.
