Internationally renowned and one of the biggest cattle fairs of north India starts in Rajasthan’s Pushkar on Monday after a gap of one year, though the effect of COVID-19 pandemic is visible in the fair as the administration has put many restrictions and due to this the number of cattle coming to the fair is much less in comparison to the previous years. Till Monday, only about 500 cattle have arrived at the fair, whereas this number used to be more than 1000 in the previous years.
Dr Prafull Mathur, the joint director of the animal husbandry department and the fair administrator admits that the Covid-19 guidelines will affect the trade of cattle in the fair. ‘We are strictly following the restrictions and it will affect the trade but we are hopeful that number will increase in coming days as the fair is taking place after a gap of one year,’ said Mathur.
This is a 13-day fair but this time it is restricted only to the cattle trade. There will be no exhibitions, cultural and sports activities and no foreign tourists to enjoy this colourful event due to Covid-19 guidelines.
The fair was cancelled in 2020 due to the coronavirus and this time also the government had not permitted to organize this fair till October 17th but then looking at the demand, the nod was given with conditions.
The administration has issued a notice that only those who have RT-PCR negative reports and have received at least one dose of the Covid-19 vaccine will be allowed to participate in the fair. The fair will remain open from 6 am to 10 pm.
Following the restrictions, the cattle owners and farmers from different places of Rajasthan and neighbouring states have arrived. Most of them have come with camels as being declared the state animal it is not allowed to transport out of state.
Farmers with horses also started pouring into the fair and they are waiting for the buyers from Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Haryana.
