Eid al-Adha: Not even a 100 animals sold at Manimajra goat market this year due to Covid-19

Eid al-Adha, also known as Eid Qurban or Bakra-Eid, will be celebrated in the city on Saturday, but the goat market of Manimajra, the biggest one in the tricity, wore a deserted look a day before the festival.

Hardly three to four traders were seen sitting inside a park behind the Manimajra cremation ground, which in previous years used to be filled with goat traders. Sales have also been minuscule and the traders said they hadn’t even sold a 100 goats among them.

Mohammad Rashid, one of the biggest goat traders from Manimajra, said that from selling about 200 goats a day before Eid, this year they have sold only 20 goats since Wednesday. “Goats we would have sold for ₹15,000 now sell for under ₹10,000. Many people have lost their livelihoods due to the lockdown so they are not willing to shell out money to buy goats for Eid,” he said.

Another trader Shaqil Mohammad said that some traders from the city had preferred to sell their goats in other cities: “We had bought special breeds of goats from Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh, but due to zero demand, many traders from the city went to Malerkotla in Sangrur district of Punjab to sell their goats as the demand is still high there.”

“Teams of the administration have been visiting every couple of hours to ensure that the market doesn’t get crowded and we wear our masks,” added another trader, Ashraf Ali.

‘GABBAR SINGH’ PRICED AT ₹1.5 LAKH

The costliest goat for sale this year has beaten the previous year’s record. Although goats from Rajasthan are amongst the priciest, this year a goat from Amritsar in Punjab has fetched the highest price.

Owned by Pintu of Manimajra, the black goat affectionately called Gabbar Singh, after the bandit leader in the film Sholay, is around 5 feet tall and weighs over 150 kilos. Last year, Sheru, an Alwari goat, sold for ₹80,000 at the market.

MASJID HEADS URGE PEOPLE TO STAY HOME

The religious heads of the major mosques of the city have urged people to offer namaz at home and avoid visiting mosques. Maulana Ajmal Khan of the Sector 20 Jama Masjid said that all devotees were further urged to follow social distancing while celebrating the festival. Maulana Imran of the Manimajra mosque added that the mosques will remain open, but devotees had been asked to pray from home.