On the afternoon of Eid day, Sultana Khatun was sitting on the footpath in the Tejkunipara area of the city with a transparent polythene bag containing around three kilograms of meat. Some customers surrounded her, asking for the price of the meat.
“I will sell the meat for Tk1,600,” said Sultana. However, the customers did not agree on the price, offering different amounts such as Tk800, Tk900, and Tk1,000.
Like Sultana, many men, women, and children collect sacrificial animal meat on Eid-ul-Azha, visiting door-to-door in the city and selling the meat in different places, including Karwan Bazaar. These markets are commonly visited by low-income groups on Eid day afternoon. Many customers also crowd at the makeshift shops to buy meat at a cheaper price.
Photo: Bangladesh First/Ariful Islam Mithu
However, this year these bazaars saw a different scenario as inflation has hit the market of essentials and commodities. The price of meat collected on Eid day has risen too.
“I offered Tk 1,000 because I don’t think there is more than two kilograms of meat,” said Lokman Hossain, a transport worker in the Tejgaon area. Lokman came to the market to buy collected meat at a low price. He bought collected meat last year at a lower price, so he decided to visit the market this year too.
“The number of customers is higher than the amount of meat, and as a result, the meat collectors are asking for higher prices,” said Lokman.
Like Lokman, Selim Miah came to see the situation of the collected meat market. He works in a scrap paper and metal shop commonly known as a Bhangarir Dokan in Karwan Bazaar. He said that the price of collected meat this year is higher than last year.
“Look, the price she is asking is Tk 1,600, and the amount of meat will be at best two kilograms. That means Tk 800 per kilogram,” said Selim Miah. “Per kilogram meat in this market should be Tk 500 per kilogram.”
Photo: Bangladesh First/Ariful Islam Mithu
Raihan Sheikh is a major collector. He went out in the morning with a rickshaw van in the city’s Shahjahanpur area and brought around 30 kilograms of cow meat to Karwan Bazaar to sell. Now he is waiting for customers in the Karwan Bazaar area.
“We have been in this area for around two hours,” said Raihan while haggling with customers over the price of his meat.
Masud has divided his collected meat and spread it on the road in lumps to sell. He said that he will sell one of the lumps for Tk 500. He mentioned that most of the meat he collected is from the Tejgaon Industrial area.
