AJMER: The international cattle fair began in holy town of Pushkar on Sunday where about 1,000 camels including 200 horses also reached the mela ground with their owners. This time the fair started as a low-key affair as moral code of conduct is in place ahead of the state assembly elections.This time the major problems that the cattle owners are facing are construction in the mela ground and camels finding it difficult to settle there. The cattle owners are not optimistic about doing good business and rates of cattle too will remain low. “We are now breeding less camels because there is no demand as we cannot sell our cattle outside Rajasthan,” said Durgam Singh of Bikaner.On the other hand, the craze for horses has increased and it is expected that in the next seven days about 5,000-7,000 horses will reach the fair. “People are now keeping horses as in their farm houses and therefore demand for horses in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and other states has increased,” said Biram Singh, a local broker.The husbandry department of Rajasthan on Sunday began medical check-up for cattle that are coming to Pushkar. “We are keeping a check on every road and registering every camel and horse and providing fodder and water,” said an official of the department.Sources said that this time the fair has started without much fanfare and the number of foreign tourists too is less compared to previous years. The hotel owners are waiting for good business. “Till now no big tourist group has reached Pushkar from Europe and America. There are tourists only from Israel,” said a tourist guide. According to local priests, the religious fair of Pushkar will start from November 16 and will continue for a week. The cattle owners will start moving back to their places from November 22. In the last seven years the religious fair has become more important than the cattle fair and therefore number of foreign tourists decreased in the last few years, said a source. The major problem that the local priests are facing is the low level of water in the Pushkar Lake and therefore the local administration is pouring in Bisalpur water in the lake. “But the problem is that supply from Bisalpur dam has decreased and therefore to fill the lake and also supply water to the town needs attention,” said an official.“Around 600 police personnel have been deputed and CCTV cameras have been installed near the Brahma Temple,” said an official.

Stay updated with all the Latest Ajmer headlines here. For more exclusive & live news updates from all around India, stay connected with NYOOOZ.