The Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI), which recently framed new guidelines for conducting jallikattu in the State, has urged the Tamil Nadu government to ensure compliance with the new norms.
It has also constituted committees, which would inspect the venues whenever the bull-taming sport is held.
In a letter to the Chief Secretary, AWBI secretary M. Ravikumar said the new guidelines needed to be complied with to “prevent the infliction of cruelty and unnecessary pain and suffering on bulls.” The Board urged the Chief Secretary to issue a circular to the authorities concerned, wherever jallikattu is to be organised, asking them to take the necessary precautionary measures.
The details of the venues must be sent to the Board so that its nominees could be sent there for inspection, it said.
The AWBI has nominated six persons, including a representative of the Animal Welfare department and two members of the Board’s Performing Animals Sub Committee, to the team which would visit jallikattu venues across Tamil Nadu till May 31 this year.
Meanwhile, the authorities have refused to grant permission for the conduct of jallikattu at a venue on the ECR near Chennai on January 7. “The organisers had approached us seeking permission. But we have not received concurrence from the government as of yet. So, the event didn’t happen on Sunday,” an official said.
Another source in the know said that the event in question was not in the nature of the traditional sport and had a commercial interest, which was the reason why permission was denied.
