NEW DELHI: With Bakr Eid just days away, the flow of cattle into Delhi has gone up several fold. The anxieties of the traders and animal transporters have gone up proportionately. It is a peak time for business because the Muslim community slaughters goats, sheep and buffalos in large number in ritual sacrifice at the festival. But bringing them to the livestock markets of the city is fraught with risks at a time when cattle vigilantism has become an ever-present threat.Meat sellers and livestock traders admitted that they have a wary eye out for both official and unofficial enforcers. Mohammad Arshad Qureshi, president of Delhi Meat Merchants’ Association, said that while overloading trucks with livestock is a genuine problem and violators should be booked, the task of overseeing this should be left to police and not extra-legal groups.Mohammad Irfan Qureshi, president of the Livestock Market Association, pointed out that animals owners have changed the timing of their movement to minimise the chances of being challenged. “Earlier, they would start crossing the border into Delhi around 10.30pm,” he told TOI. “But, to be safer, the trucks now come in only around 2am.” The livestock traders, however, haven’t been able to avoid paying bribes, he added. A transporter, requesting anonymity, claimed to have shelled out Rs 23,000 for ferrying livestock from Aligarh to Delhi, a big increase over the Rs 15,000 he paid last year.Lack of paper work, as required by law, is a bane for the people involved. The illiterate farmers cashing in on the high demand for bovine creatures often neglect the sale-purchase documents. “This can become the excuse for anybody who wants to exploit the situation,” said Irfan Qureshi. The trade bodies identified the Tikri border and the Narela and Dhaula Kuan route as the “hot zones”.“People don’t come to hear about the huge rise in violence in recent weeks because 90% of such cases are settled by the merchants,” claimed Mohammad Atiq, who has been in the livestock business for three decades. Saying that bribes of up to Rs 25,000 are normal, Atiq explained that each truck carried animals worth Rs 4-5 lakh, so transporters preferred to pay up rather than have their animals confiscated.Atiq added, “It’s not just Muslims who lose money because 80% of the animal sellers are actually Hindu farmers.” Apparently, the sheep and goat rearers are only given a token sum, with the final payment made after the sale in Delhi. The monetary losses suffered by transporters and sellers thus affect the eventual income of everyone.TOI met several people at the Ghazipur livestock market who alleged they had been victimised recently. Mohammad Nazruddin, who rears sheep and goats in Sikar in Rajasthan to sell at Ghazipur, asserted that his vehicles had been targeted twice in the last three weeks. “Two days ago I was attacked and had to pay a hefty sum to save my stock because once seized, only half the animals are given back,” he said.Mohammad Armuddin, another trader from Rajasthan, who accused gaurakshaks of beating him, charged the police with being aware of these attacks but choosing to ignore everything. “Ultimately, it is poor people like us who have to suffer,” he sighed.The sellers and market associations were clear that any violations of laws regarding animal cruelty should attract lawful punishment. However, they pleaded, vigilantism in the name of cow protection should not be allowed to mar the Bakr Eid festivities.