Shoppers thronged city markets ahead of the Eid-ul-Adha festival, which will be celebrated later this week. Sale of sacrificial animals and merchandise has gone up as the festival is coming closer.
The city’s markets are witnessing an increased rush as shoppers are flocking to buy merchandise ahead of the Eid-ul-Adha.
Sheep and goat sale points, which have sprouted across the city, are also attracting huge crowds. A major market for the sale of sacrificial animals has come up at Eid Gah in the old city where hundreds of sheep and goat are sold each day.
Eid-ul-Adha, the festival of sacrifice, will be celebrated on Friday and Saturday in the region. The festival is marked by the sacrifice of animals like sheep or goat. The shadow of beef ban, which the religious groups here have vowed to defy, will loom over this year’s festivity.
Shopper rush to the city markets will continue over the next three days and bakery shops are preparing for the increased sales ahead of the festival. The main shopping zones in the city are Lal Chowk, Residency Road and Nowhatta.
The city administration has already announced a no-entry zone for vehicular traffic along the Residency Road from Radio Kashmir to Hari Singh High Street as it expected “tens of thousands” of vehicles to throng the city hub at Lal Chowk ahead of the Eid-ul-Adha.
The administration has made an elaborate arrangement to discourage traffic gridlocks along the city’s busy Residency Road and MA Road stretches which came into effect from today till the conclusion of Eid-ul-Adha prayers on Friday morning.
Meanwhile, the arrangements for Eid-ul-Adha were finalised at a high-level meeting of top brass of the state administration held under the chairmanship of Minister for Hajj and Auqaf Abdul Rehman Veeri here on Monday.
Veeri directed the officers to ensure that people do not face any inconvenience on account of essentials, traffic management, drinking water, power supply, sanitation and healthcare services during the festival.
The minister instructed all the departments concerned to work in close coordination and put proper measures in place to ensure availability of essentials, including rations, sugar, kerosene oil, LPG, meat and poultry on reasonable rates.
The minister also called for intensifying market checking to curb profiteering and black-marketing of essentials. The meeting was attended by Divisional Commissioner, Kashmir, Asgar Samoon, senior police officials, all Deputy Commissioners of the Kashmir division, Director, CAPD, Commissioner, SMC, Director, Health Services, Kashmir, RTO, Kashmir, and Chief Engineers of PDD, PHE and UEED.
