Why repeat the same mistake every year
Kashmiri’s have been very stubborn to change. This statement proves right after every Eid-Ul-Adha festival when the same old mistake of getting careless with the remains of sacrificial animals comes to fore.
Across Kashmir families perform Qurbani as an act of devotion. Meat is distributed, bonds are renewed, and charity defines the spirit of the day. But as the knives are washed and the meat is packed, a crisis is left behind.
Animal waste – blood, viscera, hides, and bones – is dumped on roadsides, into nallahs, and near streams. Within hours, the Valley’s picturesque lanes turn into health hazards. The smell hits first. Then comes the crows, dogs, and flies. By day two, the problem is not just visual. It is medical, environmental, and social.
Ironically, various public campaigns are run every year by the administration, local bodies and municipal corporations, some NGO’s and even community leaders, but there is very little change observed on ground.
This year too animal remains were littered alongside roads, nallahs and rivers causing immense hardships to the pedestrians and the locals living nearby. What the people forget to remember is that decomposing animal waste carries E. coli, salmonella, anthrax spores, and parasites.
Flies that breed in blood-soaked spots become vectors for typhoid, diarrhoea, and skin infections. Children playing nearby are most exposed. Hospital OPDs in Srinagar report a spike in gastroenteritis cases every year post-Eid.
What the people tend to ignore is that Kashmir’s drinking water schemes draw water from streams and springs. When entrails and blood are thrown into Lidder, Sind Nallah, or even small local khuls, the load of organic matter spikes. This can lead to a disaster anytime.
Experts in the Jal Shakti department too have been warning about this impeding health hazard as chlorination of water cannot fully neutralize the infections that can occur due to animal waste.
People across Kashmir Valley tend to get ignorant on dealing with the animal waste. Not only are drains getting clogged after the festival but stray dog menace too reaches its zenith due to strewn blood, viscera, hides, and bones.
Notably, the problem is not Qurbani. The problem is disposal. Though Municipal bodies announce awareness campaigns but provide too few collection points, bio-bins, and transport.
In rural areas, the problem gets more complex. They have no system at all. Residents, with good intent but no options, use the nearest nallah. At times even main roads are not spared and people come out in the darkness and throw the waste on road sides and even designated dumpers.
Eid-Ul-Adha teaches sacrifice for a higher purpose. If we sacrifice the cleanliness of our land, the lesson is lost. A clean street after Eid is also part of our religious duty. It protects the people consuming tap water, the child walking to school, and the guest who came to see Kashmir, not its garbage.
The disposal of animal waste is a collective responsibility. People in general and the Ulema and religious leaders have a key role. A sermon on clean disposal can reach many homes than any municipal notice.
Families too need to act responsibly. They need to bag waste, add lime, and hand it to collection teams. Faith and cleanliness are not separate duties. They are intertwined. And people too should learn this lesson rather than repeating the same mistake of treating it unscientifically year on year.
