KARACHI: Even with Eid ul Adha more than a month off, preparations are already underway as the city’s main cattle market at the Northern Bypass, which was opened to the public in an inauguration ceremony led by Mayor Murtaza Wahab and Deputy Mayor Salman Abdullah Murad.

Speaking on the occasion on Saturday, Mayor Wahab termed the Northern Bypass cattle market as the largest one in Asia and reassured of addressing the security and other issues faced by the cattle market.

Noting that the cattle market served as a key social event in Karachi, Wahab said that this year cattle markets will not be allowed to be set up everywhere in the metropolis and that the administration will collect taxes from the ones which are established — at the designated points.

Meanwhile, revealing possible statistics about the North Bypass cattle market, the administration has said that this year over 300,000 animals are expected to be traded at the site.

The inauguration of the cattle market marks a key point in the preparation and enthusiasm ahead of the Eid ul Adha which holds key social and financial aspects in the city and forms part of the city’s culture where the youth and families alike visit the cattle market — which eventually becomes a fair of sorts.

Last year, the  Karachi administration notified 22 sacrificial animal markets where the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) was responsible for eight major cattle markets, 12 markets fell under the competence of various town municipal corporations (TMCs) and two temporary animal markets were allowed to be set up in cantonment board areas.