Bhubaneswar, Nov. 7: People began eating non-vegetarian food from today to celebrate Chhadakhai after the auspicious month of Kartik came to an end yesterday.

Residents of the city were seen today queuing up outside shops selling chicken, fish and mutton across the city. The devout Odias had refrained from eating non-vegetarian food in the past six days. The high demand pushed up prices.

A large number of Odias abstain from eating non-vegetarian food for the whole month of Kartik and almost everyone sticks to vegetarian food items for the last five days of this month known as Panchuka. Chhadakhai is the fist day after the end of Kartik when people begin eating non-vegetarian food again.

'The non-vegetarian food is a must in my menu today after staying away from it for the past one month. I went to a nearby shop and purchased chicken and fish. But, the rate was extremely high,' said Chakeisiani resident Pradeep Senapati.

Many people said they knew the rates would be on the higher side, because the traders had been waiting to cash in on the spurt in demand for the non-vegetarian food once the month of Kartik would come to an end. Besides, they reasoned that these businessmen had slump during the holy month.

Though the sellers of fish and chicken said they did a good business, the mutton sellers said it was nothing more than the usual Sunday for them.

The fish sellers' association said they had sold around 150 tonnes of fishes today in and around Bhubaneswar. They normally sell around 100 tonnes on the weekly non-vegetarian days. 'We had procured three more trucks today, keeping Chhadakhai in mind, and all our stocks were sold out,' said association member Sheikh Ibrahim.

Chicken vendors also did a brisk business.

'On regular non-vegetarian days, I sell between 70 and 80 kilograms of chicken a day. But today, I sold more than 150kg,' said Anurag Jena, a chicken vendor at Unit-IV.

Sources said that on a regular Sunday, around 10 tonnes of chicken would be sold in the city. The sales touched 15 tonnes today.

'I had a regular sale day today. I just sold around seven quintals today. Most people prefer chicken and fishes over red meat,' said Sarjan Qureshi, secretary of the mutton sellers' association.

Around 100 quintals of mutton was sold today in the city.

A number of buyers complained that the government should step in to control the prices of non-vegetarian food, because traders raise the prices when the demand is high.