The State government has little to do with the ban on Kambala (slush track buffalo racing) in Udupi and Dakshina Kannada and will appeal to the Union government to exclude it from the list of sports that feature animal cruelty, said B. Ramanath Rai, Minister for Forests, Ecology and Environment .
Talking to reporters, Mr. Rai said the government will write to the Animal Welfare Board of India explaining that animal cruelty was not a part of Kambala as it is with Jallikattu which was explicitly banned by the (May 7) Supreme Court order.
“The AWBI has misinterpreted the order and the provisions of the Prevention of Animal Cruelty Act. The Order does not impose restrictions on Kambala. In fact, Kambala educates on the humane treatment,” he said. Mr. Rai, who has for the past decade organised numerous buffalo races in his home town in Bantwal, said the ban will affect the folk games of the region.
Though he lamented that the ban on Kambala was taking political tones, he said the State government had little to do with the prohibition of the rural sport.
“There have been allegations that though the twin districts have four ministers, we have done little to stop the ban on Kambala. However, this is just politics. AWBI comes under the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests. The previous UPA-government had not given orders on Kambala. It is the current government that has allowed this, and it is suspicious that the orders are being passed before the Kambala season, when the SC order had come in May itself,” he said.
