The Maharashtra government is planning to initiate the online purchase of animals including goats and sheep for sacrifice to avoid crowding ahead of the Eid-ul-Adha or Bakra Eid. Maharashtra Minister for Textiles and Fisheries, Aslam Shaikh said that the standard of operation (SOP) or guidelines for the same will be released soon.
Shaikh also said that the celebrations for any festival will not be allowed in containment zones demarcated by the administration due to the coronavirus outbreak. Moreover, crowd gathering for ‘Qurbani’ (sacrifice) will not be allowed and people will have to offer Nawaz at home since the Mosques are closed.
The minister said that there will be no markets set up for purchasing cattle in Deonar to avoid crowding and people will have to buy the goats online. Earlier, Shaikh held a meeting with the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) officials planning to set up markets in each ward for buying goats.
The BMC is also expected to set up markets across Mumbai to buy goats so that the crowding doesn’t take place or else the efforts to contain COVID-19 outbreak will go to waste.
In an official statement, Shaikh was quoted as saying that markets will be allowed only on open grounds and big markets like Deonar will not be permitted this time for traditional buying of animals amid the coronavirus outbreak.
On Tuesday, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray urged the Muslim community to celebrate Eid-ul-Adha in a simple manner. The Bakra Eid is likely to be celebrated on August 1 and the Chief Minister has urged people to celebrate the festival “symbolically” if possible.
Thackeray made the appeal during a video conference which was attended by public representatives including MLAs from the Muslim community along with cabinet ministers including Ajit Pawar, Nawab Malik and Anil Deshmukh.
Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh also reiterated that the Bakrid should be celebrated in a simple manner and said that the festivities can’t be allowed given the stress on police to enforce the lockdown.
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