Sealed by authorities, decades-old goat market in Varanasi wears deserted look on Bakrid

A park which usually bustles with activities this time of the year when it turns into a goat market for Eid-ul-Azha, the decades-old Benia Bagh Bakra Market in the heart of Varanasi wore a deserted look this Bakrid after the civic body sealed it following complaints of poor sanitation and overcrowding, triggering resentment among the goat traders.

The Benia Bagh falls within a 2-km radius of the Kashi Vishwanath temple. Under the Smart City project, the park now has a children’s playing area, an open gym and walking tracks.

Unlike previous years when goat sellers from several Purvanchal districts, including Ghazipur, Mau, Jaunpur and Gorakhpur, flocked to Benia Bagh, the empty park looked a pale shadow of the past on Thursday, with no jostling of animals or the men who put them up for sale.

Municipal Commissioner Himanshu Nagpal said the permission granted to the goat market, which generally opens around 10 days before Bakrid, was cancelled following an inspection after complaints of overcrowding and poor sanitation were received by the Nagar Nigam.

Goat traders, however, argued that their business had been hit badly as the authorities first granted them permission for selling goats at the park ahead of Bakrid, only to revoke it later.

According to municipal officials, the goat traders were directed to vacate the premises within three days last Friday. However, since they did not comply with the order, the market was vacated and sealed on Monday with police assistance. “The site is currently being used as a park,” a municipal official said.

According to Smart City PRO Shakambhari Nandan, the goat market has been sealed due to garbage dumping noticed at the site.

The action by the civic body has drawn sharp criticism from goat traders, who said the market has been known across Uttar Pradesh for nearly four decades.

According to the traders, it opens around 10 days before Eid-ul-Azha and attracts sellers from several Purvanchal districts, including Ghazipur, Mau, Jaunpur and Gorakhpur.

The traders said shutting the market just ahead of the festival was unfair, and asked where they should go to sell their goats at such a short notice.

Afroz Alam, a local, said his family purchased goats from the Benia Bagh every year as traders from distant places gathered there and sold good-quality animals at reasonable rates.

“We have been purchasing goats from the market for decades. I was shocked to find it closed a day before Eid. I had to eventually buy the animal from a local trader at a much higher rate,” Alam said.

Vicky Ali, a livestock trader, said that farmers and goat sellers, including Hindus from rural areas, depended on the market to sell their animals.

“The sudden closure has caused us considerable hardship. Many small farmers had to return after selling their animals for a loss because they didn’t have anywhere else to go,” Ali said.