A majority of the District Collectors have not followed the Supreme Court direction with regard to jallikkattu, said R.M. Kharb, Chairman Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI) here on Monday.
Talking to reporters Mr. Kharb said the Board had not been informed about the venue, date and the number of animals taking part in the sport.
It had received applications in two batches for holding jallikkattu in Madurai district.
In the first batch totally 122 applications were received and 271 animals were registered as performing animals. Only one application was rejected in the first batch. In the second batch 201 applications were received. This was also from Madurai, which is being processed by the Board, he said.
One hundred and seventy nine places were identified as the venue for holding jallikkattu. However, last year only in 49 venues the programme was held. This year the district administration so far has not provided the required information to the Board and the programme would begin from January 15, he said.
Like last year a team of photographers and videographers from the Board would visit the different venues in the State and would record the programme mainly to show the violations to the Supreme Court.
The sport, apart from inflicting cruelty on animals led to large scale betting. As per official records 12 persons died and more than 1,600 were grievously injured in the sport last year. Hence the Board was fighting to stop the event, Mr. Kharb said.
