Celebrating Eid-ul-Azha responsibly

Eid-ul-Azha is only a few days away. The authorities have recently declared that the total Eid cattle markets in Dhaka this year will be less than that in the earlier years. Considering the inconvenience caused by cattle markets to the city's traffic movement, the relevant authorities have decided not to allow three such markets to operate in the capital. The said markets of sacrificial animals, along with the others, are annually held on or near the busy roads.
As has been gleaned from the media, spots near some highways in the country will also be kept free of annual Eid cattle markets this year.
All this is good news. The people preparing to go to their village homes to celebrate Eid have now reasons to imagine a comfortable, and gridlock-free, journey and return trip to the city. However, the spectre of passing through the rain-battered dilapidated roads remains. The communication authorities have not yet clearly assured the home-bound people of a smooth road journey.
Keeping the topics of Dhaka traffic on the eve of Eid and the long-awaited journey home aside for now, let us turn to the Eid Day itself in the capital: how the city-dwellers are expecting the day to pass off. Do they have to brace for a stench-filled city with puddles of sacrificial animals' blood and rejected parts of their offal scattered all over the metropolis?  Or could they be able to see a Dhaka, like that seen on the Eid-ul-Azha days for two to three consecutive years not long ago? Unlike the terrible age-old scenario offered by Dhaka on this Eid, in those two or three years the capital was found impeccably cleared of the slaughtered animals' left-over parts, including congealed blood, by afternoon. Given the bitter experience the city residents had in the recent years, they cannot expect any remarkable change in the spectacle involving the management of the whole ritual. Many affluent city-dwellers slaughter their sacrificial animals in their own compounds. But those who do not have such a space opt for public places, especially the nearby roads and lanes. What inevitably follows is, the slaughtering spot remains unwashed for hours on end, with revolting odour of half-dried blood sickening pedestrians moving through the area.
Unless the person behind the holy sacrifice (Qurbani) feels some pricks of conscience, and washes the blood out, the place is left to dry away in the sun or washed off by rain. The dumping of the slaughtered animals' rejected parts of meat and bones into any place one finds to be convenient is an old practice in Dhaka on this Eid.
Over the last few years, Dhaka City Corporation has been found to be considerably active in removing the garbage bits at the earliest possible time and spreading bleaching powder on rotting blood on the day. Now that the corporation is divided into two wings, North and South, one cannot expect the same performance as it has carried out in the past. Already there have been reports in the media that both the corporation entities are afflicted with a plethora of problems. Over the last two years, the Dhaka people had a sample of the city corporations' present level of capability to cope with the Eid Day clean-up job.
Since we have no well-equipped and large abattoirs, like in the wealthy Muslim-majority countries, the practice of performing Qurbani in the open will continue. Here, the city-dwellers have to depend a lot on their responsible behaviour. The city corporations ought to be strengthened logistically with sufficient skilled manpower, and made mindful of their civic obligations to the city people on keeping Dhaka and other cities clean on this Eid.
All of us know it well that a clean, hygienic city only adds to the solemn festivities of Eid-ul-Azha.

Shihabskr@ymail.com