Special cattle trains ahead of Eid-ul-Azha

The railways ministry has decided to run special cattle trains for ferrying sacrificial animals ahead of Eid-ul-Azha amid a worsening Covid-19 situation in the country, reports UNB.

Shoriful Alam, senior information officer of the ministry, told the news agency on Tuesday that Bangladesh Railway will operate the trains from 17-19 July. "Their numbers will vary every day, depending on the demand of the traders."

Initially the trains will run from Dewan Bazar of Jamalpur to Kamalapur railway station in Dhaka.

The ministry has also made necessary arrangements to transport animals from Khulna and Chapainawabganj. "If cattle traders are interested, special trains will be run on these routes too,” said Shoriful.

Eid-ul-Azha is expected to be celebrated in around a fortnight's time in Bangladesh, depending on the sighting of the moon.

The country is currently in the middle of a "strict restriction" due to Covid-19.

But many bordering districts have been in lockdown since the last week of May, when cases started shooting up after the Delta variant of the coronavirus, then known as the Indian variant, was detected in the country.

In this situation, cattle farmers may face some extra bottlenecks in transporting the animals to different parts of the country. So, the decision to operate a special train might come as a great relief to many of them.