HYDERABAD, Jan 8: The district government and the City taluka municipal administration have failed to enforce the schedule of recovery of fees on purchase of sacrificial animals as contractors of cattle pens continue to charge exorbitant fees from buyers and sellers of animals.

It is despite the fact that both the local governments had undertaken to ensure that a contractor did not make exorbitant recovery from buyers and sellers and that the recovery was in accordance with the schedule of the defunct Hyderabad Municipal Corporation, notified in the Sindh government gazette.

City TMA sources said the cattle pen for the city had been auctioned for Rs3.8 million which had last year been given at Rs1.7 million. The Latifabad TMA had auctioned the cattle pen for Rs570,000.

According to the schedule of recovery of the defunct HMC, which is still applicable for TMAs of Hyderabad, Rs10 is to be charged from buyers on purchase of a cow and Rs5 on purchase of a goat/sheep. However, in the largest cattle pen of the city, Rs100 is being charged for a goat/sheep and Rs200 for a cow.

In Latifabad’s cattle pen, the contractor is charging Rs200 for a cow and Rs150 for a goat/sheep. The Latifabad TMA had revised the schedule for publication in the Sindh gazette but without fulfilment of formalities of inviting objections from general public and referring the matter to a committee.

According to rules, the pen is to be auctioned with an increase of 15 per cent from last year’s bid.

The City TMA revised the schedule through resolutions last year and forwarded it to the Sindh government for publication in the Sindh government gazette but it has not been notified by the government till date and the contractor is supposed to make recovery according to the old schedule.

The TMA had suggested that one per cent should be charged for a goat/sheep from seller and purchaser and two per cent for other cattle. It had sent the proposal after inviting objections from general public before revising the schedule.

“It is illegal if a contractor is making recovery as per the revised schedule which is yet to be notified by the Sindh government. The old schedule is applicable until the new schedule is approved and notified by the government,” said a senior local body official.

Former Taluka Nazim Moinuddin Shaikh said there was an audit objection when the TMA intended to auction the cattle pen at the revised schedule on the ground that if the schedule was to be implemented, a bid not less than Rs10 million should be accepted. He added that last year the pen had been auctioned after apprising the contractor about recovery of fees at Rs5 and Rs10.

The incumbent City taluka municipal officer, Asadullah Rajput, said the pen had been auctioned in accordance with the new schedule of recovery approved by the City Taluka Council. He said the new schedule had been forwarded to the Sindh government for publication in the gazette, adding that it was valid for recovery. He maintained that even last year, the pen had not been auctioned as per the old schedule of the defunct HMC.

Contractors in both cattle pens of city and Latifabad are involved in overcharging of fees without any check by the TMA concerned or even the district government.

The district nazim had announced that the district government would monitor the sale of animals at the pen by setting up a camp and through announcements for general public to pay fees as per the schedule. Likewise, City Taluka Nazim Javed Jabbar had also promised to ensue that the contractor did not violate the recovery schedule. He had said that the TMA would establish a camp at the pen to receive complaints from buyers if they were forced to pay illegal fees. However, no such arrangements are seen at the pen.

A rise in prices of sacrificial animals in markets of City, Latifabad and the Hyderabad Cantonment Board is being witnessed.

A healthy goat is being sold between Rs8,000 to Rs10,000 and a cow at Rs20,000 to Rs25,000 at the biggest cattle pen of sacrificial animals set up off the National Highway.