VILLUPURAM: The famous Gingee cattle market witnessed a whopping Rs 5-crore sales on Friday, a few days ahead of Bakrid. Traders had brought goat, sheep and cattle in small trucks from far away villages. The Friday market in Gingee dates back to a century when peasants and shepherds from the North Arcot converged here for selling cattle.
“Our family has been growing cattle and selling them in this market from my grandfather’s time. It is a place of traditional method of trading and people from even Karnataka come here to buy cattle. I sold about a dozen sheep for over Rs 1 lakh,” said G Govindaperumal, a farmer and shepherd from Gingee.
People, mostly Muslims, from Villupuram, Bengaluru, Chennai and Puducherry came to the market ahead of Bakrid, which falls on August 12. Sellers from Tiruvannamalai, Vandavasi, Malladi, Tindivanam, Arani, Gingee and Kadambur were eagerly selling off their cattle. K Sivanesan, a seller from Tiruvanamalai, said that this year’s sales were good. He added that Hindus also bought cattle for sacrifices for the Aadi month special prayers.
Goats were sold at prices ranging from Rs 8,000 to Rs 25,000 while sheep were sold at a maximum rate of Rs 17,000. The maximum price of lambs hovered around Rs 20,000. Also, cattle were sold at a range of Rs 7,000 to `15,000.
S Shankar from Bengaluru said, “I travelled the whole night to be here on Friday morning. I bought cattle for Rs 15,000. It is surprising to see so many people gather here to buy cattle. I run a beef biriyani stall in Bengaluru and came here to get good meat for the stall.” At the end of the market, a net sale of Rs 5 crore was registered, local sources said.