As one day left in Eid-ul-Azha, sale of slaughtering instruments (knives and other items) and cooking meat oven, cookers, Bar B-Q tools and rugs sales heading to its peak before Eid-ul-Azha. A number of stalls are established in every locality to sell butchery tools, whereas street vendors also offer their services to sharpen the rusted tools of butchery.
Shopkeepers and seasonal sellers look forward to this time of the year annually to mint money. Beside sale of slaughtering instruments a number of seasonal butchers have started to set up their booking stalls in various parts of the city attracted by lucrative charges of slaughtering the sacrificial animals.
Many labourers, who did not find job during Eid days, also become seasonal butchers for the time being to get handsome return. For blacksmiths, the days before Eid is the time for lucrative earnings as the sale of their hand-made knives and chopper sin creases manifold while people also get sharpened the old ones. Rising inflation has become a valid excuse for profiteers in every business, and traders too are taking full advantage of this situation by increasing prices of tools by 30 to 40 percent.
Medium sized knives were being sold at Rs 300 to Rs 450; blades made slaughtering knives were being sold at Rs 450 to Rs 550 while stainless steel made knives prices jumped from Rs 475 to Rs 950. However some of the traders said that the sale of locally made slaughtering accessories reduced due to the freely availability of imported equipment in large quantity. Another dealer of slaughtering accessories said there is no alternative of locally made accessories as these are more hardy and sustainable than the imported ones.
The occasion also provides opportunity of good business to vendors who roam around on bicycles to sell a variety of knives and other related instruments, which are displayed on a board. On Eid-ul Azha people take interest in buying tools and material used for scarifying the animals. Stall displaying knives, meat cleaver and Bar-B-Q instruments including Angeethi (hand-made oven) and steel bars are a common feature of Eid-ul-Azha.
He said during first two days of Eid catching a butcher was a difficult task, so people preferred to sacrifice animals themselves to avoid inconvenience. People buy the required tools, while many get their old knives and choppers sharpened. Slaughtering accessories dealers said that prices of these equipments have registered increase owing to increase in prices of raw materials like iron, gas and power tariff. Price of a medium-sized knife weighing around 1.2 kg has been increased from Rs 400 to Rs 550.