The weekly cattle market in Jamalpur's Sarishabari sat ignoring the strict lockdown announced by the government on Sunday afternoon.
The market was held at Baushi Bazaar in Sarishabari municipal area. There was a huge crowd at the weekly cattle market. Most of the cattle buyers and sellers were seen to defy the hygiene and social distancing rules in the cattle market.
There was a huge crowd of buyers and sellers at the weekly market even though a nationwide lockdown is going on. Most of them did not even have a mask on their face to prevent the infection of Corona virus.
When the government and administration are in a tough position to enforce hygiene rules amid the ongoing lockdown, locals fear that the corona infection rate might increase as a result of setting the weekly cattle hat and not following the hygiene rules there.
Visiting the hat in person, it was found that buyers and sellers from different upazilas came to the Baushi Bazar cattle market on Sunday morning to buy and sell sacrificial animals for the upcoming Eid-ul-Adha. Trading was going on in there without following social distancing and hygiene rules there. Most buyers-sellers did not have a mask on their face. Moreover, the handful of people who brought masks put them either in their pockets or hung them on their chins.
Officer-in-charge of Sarishabari Police Station Mir Rakibul Haque, who was present at the market, said the market could not be shut down. The police are trying to implement the hygiene rules. The leaseholder of the hat Moazzem Hossain said, “Markets including cattle hats are running in many places of the upazila. We are running the hat by talking to the local mayor and administration. However, announcements are being conducted continuously so that everyone obeys the hygiene rules”.
When asked, Sarishabari Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) Shihab Uddin Ahmed said, “I have heard that the sacrificial animal hats are running in compliance with the health rules. The cattle market is scheduled to continue till 5 pm. The administration is working to ensure compliance with the hygiene rules at the cattle market”.
