LAHORE: As many as 771,881 sacrificial animals worth over Rs59 billion were sold till the first day of Eid at allcattlemarkets/salepoints operated by the Punjab Cattle Markets Management and Development Company -a subsidiary of the Local Government and Community Development Department.

Lahore and Bahawalpur divisions alone reported to have witnessed a huge sale of sacrificial animals worth Rs28.8bn almost half of the total business volume of Rs59.17bn. `This year, the sale volume of sacrificial animals was 10.5 per cent more than that of the last year due to record sale of goats as lumpy skin disease in big animals forced people to buy small animals, PCMMDC CEO / LGCD Director General Ms Kausar Khan told Dawn on Tuesday.

According to a report shared by the company, as many as 37,800 big animals (cows, calves, bulls, camels etc) and 154,000 small (goats) were brought to various cattle markets / sale points, including Lahore`s Shahpur Kanjran, out of which 37,000 big and 150,000 small animals worth Rs13bn were sold.In Gujranwala division, 9,665 big and 21,400 small animals were brought to various markets of the PCMMDC out of which 4,542 big and 14,417 small animals worth Rs2.75bn were sold.

Faisalabad division`s cattle markets did a total business of Rs5.6bn as 27,000 big and 115,000 small animals were sold here.

In Rawalpindi division, 30,700 big and 42,500 small animals worth Rs6.73bn were sold. Here 30,772 big and 42,750 small animals were brought.

Sargodha division did a total business of Rs4.29bn, as 24,570 big and 70,328 small animals were sold here. Total 47,250 big and 119,200 small animals were brought here.

As many as 6,517 big and 16,784 small animals worth Rs1.8bn were sold in Sahiwal division out of the total 9,182 big and 19,994 small animals brought here.

Multan division made a record sale of 25,000 big and 51,000 small animals worth Rs6bn. Here 32,200 big and 57,800 small animals were brought.Bahawalpur division markets did a total sale of Rs15.8bn as 43,680 big and 51,920 small animals were sold here out of 67,578 big and 74,890 small animals.The animals (10,667 big and 52,246 small) worth Rs3.2bn were sold in DG Khan division.