A toll (hasil) of 5 per cent is charged at the markets for sacrificial cattle. The law and order committee of the Ministry of Home Affairs has requested that it be cut to 4 per cent in future.

Home Adviser Lt Gen (retd) Md Jahangir Alam Chowdhury said this on Monday (19 May) after a meeting of the law and order committee on Eid ul Adha in the ministry's meeting room.

He said instructions had been given to keep order at the cattle markets. No cattle truck may unload animals on the road; they must unload inside the market. Every market must have Ansar members, around 75, as well as veterinarians for the cattle and first aid for people. No market may be held by the roadside. When a vehicle sets off it must state in advance which market it is going to, and action will be taken if anyone forces it to go to another market.

"Now 5 per cent hasil is taken. We have asked local government bodies to reduce it to 4 per cent from next time," he said. "Since the tenders have already been done this time, there is no scope to do it this year."

The adviser said bulkheads would be halted from the day before Eid until three days after Eid.

He said garment factories had been told to pay bonuses within May and salaries between 1 and 3 June. Owners must meet workers' reasonable demands, but law enforcers will take action if anyone takes to the streets with unreasonable demands.

Asked about the many ongoing protests, the home adviser said: "There will always be demands; that is why there is a home ministry. Demands will be made and met, and then someone will come with new ones. I would say that where demands are reasonable, the ministry concerned should accept them, and no one should make unreasonable demands. I request everyone to hold protests within their own complexes, so that ordinary people do not suffer from roads being blocked."

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.