The inhabitants of historical Chitral bazaars on Sunday demanded from the district administration to shift the butchers and poultry shops to give a clean look to the foreign and local tourists coming to the districts from all over the world.
Former president of the traders association Shabbir Rehman and other locals of historical Chitral bazaars said that due to the stench emanating from the meat and poultry shops in the bazaar, the tourist and other passers-by were facing difficulties.
When contacted, medical experts also termed it a risk of various vertical diseases due to the presence of these shops near food stalls. Chitral is a beautiful and touristic district where tourists from all over the world including all the provinces of the country keep coming but some things seem like a bad stain on the beauty of Chitral. Butchers and chicken shops are open everywhere in Chitral bazar, they said.
On one hand, the passers-by and tourists are quite bothered by the stench coming out of these shops, and on the other hand it is also a threat to human health. According to medical experts, there are more than three and a half hundred diseases that are transmitted from animals to humans and from humans to animals, they are called zoonotic diseases, they told .
During a survey and talk to various people and experts, they also demanded of the removal of butchers and poultry shops to a specific place rather having shops in every nook and corner of the bazaars causing a bad taste in the mind of the valuable visits who are a main sources of earning for the people of Chitral.
“We cannot breathe because of the bad smell,” a tourist Misal Khan said during his visit to scenic Chitral. When contacted current and former District Health Officers of Chitral, Dr. Fayaz Romi, Dr. Asrarullah and Dr. Nisarullah who also confirmed the dangers of diseases caused by these chickens.
According to them, the things we eat without boiling i.e. cooked like fruits, salads, bakery, sweets etc. which are near poultry and meat shops can cause zoonotic diseases. Shabbir Ahmed, the former President of the Traders’ Union, said that we have made a request to have a separate market for this rather than shops across the bazaars and the then Deputy Commissioner agreed to shift the same but it did not materialize the way a promise was being made.
He further informed that the vehicles in which the chickens are brought from the lower districts are often open and due to the wind, their feathers and smell spread throughout the bazaars, besides, the waste of the chickens was also taken from here to Peshawar etc.
It was necessary to cover them with a tarpaulin etc. so that the smell and dirt do not spread out, he added. He said that when I was the president of the trade union, vehicles carrying chickens and their waste were allowed in the market after evening to protect the
public from its stench and harmful effects.
Deputy Commissioner Chitral Anwar ul Haq is also willing to move these shops out on the strong demand of the public, but according to him, the cooperation of the shopkeepers is also necessary in this regard.
The Deputy Commissioner said that in this regard, our TMA, Livestock Department is working regularly and we also get complaints from the public again and again, we try to transfer them to a different market. He should cooperate with us in this regard and not put obstacles in his way.
The shopkeepers around the poultry shops are also very bothered by its smell and they do not have frequent customers due to this. A shopkeeper selling ice cream in Bazar said that there are poultry and meat shops near to my shops, whose feathers and waste etc. enter my shop due to the wind and when the customer eats ice cream, the smell emanates from these shops.
The inhabitants demanded from the administration and government institutions that these shops should be removed from the center of the market and shifted to a separate market so that the passers-by and tourists are not bothered by their smell.
