BHUBANESWAR: After wearing a deserted look throughout the Kartika month, meat markets in the Twin City sprung back to life on Friday with people celebrating ‘Chhadakhai’, to mark the end of their month-long abstinence from non-vegetarian food. Markets in both Cuttack and Bhubaneswar saw a combined business of over Rs 7 crore on the day.
While ‘Panchuka’ ended on Wednesday with Kartika Purnima, Chadakhai was celebrated on Friday as people refrained from consuming non-veg food on Thursday. Since morning, people in large numbers were seen thronging the markets to buy fish, crab, chicken, mutton and other non-vegetarian items.
Expecting brisk business, vendors hiked the prices of various non-vegetarian food products compared to normal days. However, this did not deter people who wanted to indulge. President of All Odisha Non-Veg Traders’ Federation, Sk Muntaqeem Buksh said while Bhubaneswar markets saw a business of Rs 4.1 crore, vendors in Cuttack sold fish and meat worth Rs 3 crore on the day.
Mutton was priced between Rs 800 and Rs 850 per kg while desi chicken sold at Rs 550 to Rs 600 a kg. The Sonali variety of chicken was also expensive at Rs 400 per kg. Fish, on the other hand, sold between Rs 200 and Rs 2,000, depending on the varieties. Hilsa, the much-sought, was selling at Rs 1,800 to Rs 2,000 per kg. Similarly, eggs were priced at Rs 7.5 per piece while desi eggs were expensive at Rs 15 a piece.
There are over 4,000 vendors under the federation with 500 of them selling mutton, 1,500 chicken and 2,000 fish. “The sale of mutton, chicken and fish was three times more today as compared to the other days,” informed Buksh.
Vendors are hopeful of more business on Sunday. To meet the excess demand for Chhadakhai, the vendors procured fish, chicken and mutton from different places across the state besides neighbouring Andhra Pradesh and Kolkata. “While fish were brought from Chilika, Paradip and Andhra Pradesh, chicken was sourced from Puri, Cuttack, Khurda, Pipili and Baripada. Similarly, mutton was brought from Balangir, Baripada, Nayagarh and Kolkata,” Buksh said.