Krishnagiri: Prices of goat and sheep have doubled in Kuntharapalli shandy, on Chennai-Bengaluru national highway in Krishnagiri district in the wake of Muslim clerics allegedly sending out an advisory to the laity to be cautious in the choice of animals during the ensuing ‘Bakrid’ festival sacrifice.
“This shandy usually gets around 10,000 goats and sheep on each Friday and today the number has crossed over one lakh livestock due to Bakrid,” 70-year-old K.Ramachandrappa of Shoolagiri told reporters. “The heads of cattle have come from neighboring Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, besides the animals brought here by the local farmers,” he said.
The minimum going rate is Rs 5,000 and the maximum goes up to Rs 75,000 for each animal that are sold in the shandy. The rates are not fixed by taking into account its weight, but by other features of the animal. The other reason is because of the “clerics warning the people not to use other animals for Bakrid”.
“This year the demand is more compared to the previous Bakrid season, as Muslims prefer goat or sheep for sacrifice due to the warning of clerics not to use other animals in order to avoid unwanted confrontation from people of other faiths,” Ramachandrappa said.
“No cleric has issued such warning. We have a set of rules that need to be followed while selecting the animal for Qurbani. The animal should not be aged, weak and also without any physical damage,” counters 45-year-old M.Rizwan of Kolar in neighbouring Karnataka.
He added: “any Muslim without bargain will be ready to pay the amount as demanded by the traders or the framers because of demand in getting the animals that qualifies for the sacrifice.”
