The law enforcement agencies including Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) and Bangladesh Rifles (BDR), to be deployed in different cattle markets, highways and waterways, will also ensure smooth transportation of sacrificial animals.

The decision was made when a delegation of tannery association and district chambers met the home secretary yesterday in Dhaka. The businesses demanded steps to protect extortion during cattle transportation and stop smuggling of raw hides of sacrificial animals into neighbouring countries.

Presided over by Home Secretary Safar Raj Hossain, the meeting was attended, among others, by IGP MA Quayyum, DG-BDR, DG-Rab, top leaders of different district chambers and tannery association.

The meeting sources said some 15,000 members of law enforcement agencies will be deployed in 115 shopping centres and 15 to 16 cattle markets in the capital to protect extortion, mugging and other criminal activities.

District police will escort 20 to 25 cattle trucks at a time to protect illegal toll collection and robbery while highway police will also remain alert to avoid any untoward incident.

Besides, in waterways coast guards and police will ensure safety of trawlers and boats carrying cattle.

"Because of strict vigilance against hide smuggling last year, we made it possible to protect smuggling of hides worth Tk 500 crore and the figure will go up this year," the home secretary said.

The meeting was informed that 11 lakh cattle have been imported so far from India while the figure was 8.5 lakh last year. The government has already earned Tk 55 crore in revenue from cattle import, which is 25 percent higher than that of last year. The government earned Tk 43 crore in revenue from cattle import last year, the meeting was told.