Inspired by the bullish business of transporting Rajshahi mangoes to the Dhaka city, Bangladesh Railway has initiated to carry the cattle to the capital before Eid-ul Azha only to receive a lukewarm response. Seemingly the cowboys are failing to lead the cows to board the wagons because of coronavirus and flooding.
Not a single train has commuted in this route till Sunday in spite of campaigns in district and upazila levels. However, according to the Bangladesh Railway (BR) authorities, a train loaded with sacrificial animals is expected to reach the capital from Rangpur within Tuesday. So far 11 wagons have been booked to carry cattle to the capital. It may be said that not a single train has been booked completely as a train generally comprises of 20 to 25 wagons.
The rail authority was in doubt over operating the trains due to lack of booking nonetheless the trains were prepared to commute.
Chief Commercial Manager (CCM) of the Eastern Zone of Bangladesh Railway Md. Nazmul Islam told The Business Post that they have not received much response as expected as far as animal transportation is concerned. According to him, this is because the destinations from which the trains are scheduled to arrive have been affected by flood and stations of those areas along with the railway track have been inundated. The trains are operating amid this situation.
Sacrificial animals are not coming to the local cattle markets due to the flood situation. In consequence, the sellers cannot buy the animals and bring them to Dhaka. However, the railway authority has received some bookings amid this situation. Due to flood and Covid-19, the possibility of getting more bookings has gone in vain.
Bangladesh Railway declared to transport animals in this year’s Eid-ul Azha on July 7 and requested the traders to contact 01711691520 for booking. But the traders did not respond.
The operator of Railway Control Room Saidur Rahman told The Business Post that till Sunday 11 wagons had been booked in the Rangpur route. They would send the train on Sunday night with 25 wagons. The train was scheduled to depart on Sunday night and reach Dhaka on Tuesday after loading animals from different stations throughout Monday.
However, the first cattle special train arrived on the platform no. 8 of the Kamalapur Railway Station in Dhaka at 8:50 am Wednesday, departing around 8 pm the night before from the Islampur upazila of Jamalpur with 261 sacrificial cows in 17 wagons.
The traders are unable to collect cattle from the remote areas of the country due to coronavirus pandemic and flood situation. During this time in the past, cattle markets become busy with buyers and sellers but this year the cattle markets are finding it hard to get the buyers. Due to flood, it is not possible to arrange cattle markets in the districts of the northern region from where most of the cattle arrive in Dhaka. Railway officials informed that sacrificial animals will be transported at a rate of Tk 20 for every kilometre per wagon. Accordingly, it is possible to transport 16 cattle in a meter-gauze wagon and 20 to 25 cattle in a broad-gauze wagon. It will cost the traders maximum Tk 800 to Tk 1200 to transport cattle from north Bengal to Dhaka when a truck or pickup charges Tk 2.5 to Tk 3 thousand for every cattle from the same place.
The operation of trains remained closed for more than two months in order to keep coronavirus outbreak at bay. The train started operation on May 31. Nineteen pairs of trains started operation in two phases but two trains had to be stopped operating due to lack of passengers. Remaining trains are operating below capacity. Railway has focused on transporting cargo in luggage trains in order to minimize losses.
Chief Commercial Manager (CCM) of the Western Zone of Bangladesh Railway Mohammad Ahsan-ul-Bhuiyan informed The Business Post that the railway has not received an expected response from the traders although preparation to transport cattle has been taken a long time ago. The railway has 40 wagons ready to transport cattle at a very low cost. The traders have to pay an amount calculated at a rate of Taka 20 per kilometre. The traders can transport cattle at the cost of Tk 800 from Chapainawabganj which is 400 kilometres away from the capital Dhaka. The trains will leave for the capital once there are sufficient numbers of bookings.
Regular life has been devastated by the coronavirus on one hand while on the other flood dashed the hope. The railway authorities are expecting that the traders will transport cattle by train in this dual crisis.
aa/wi/teb
