Ahead of the jallikattu season coinciding with Pongal festivities in January, the district administration has entrusted the Animal Husbandry department with the task of collecting details of ‘jallikattu’ bulls in the district and the owners.
Heeding the district administration’s directive, bull owners in the district have started providing information at the nearest veterinary dispensaries. The Animal Husbandry has been uploading the details in an app created for this purpose.
A senior official of Animal Husbandry department told The Hindu on Sunday that over 1,350 bulls had registered and more registrations would take place in the days to come.
Tiruchi District Collector P. Sivarasu in a message instructed bull owners to approach the nearest veterinary dispensary and furnish details about themselves and their animals before December 28. Veterinarians are also visiting houses of bull owners to collect details such as height and age of the bull, distance between horns and a photograph of the iris of the left eye.
The department documents the name of the bull owner, their Aadhar and mobile numbers and a photograph of the bull along with its owner, said the senior official.
Inspection of venues would be done by a joint team of officials before giving consent, said the sources. Periya Suriyur, a few kilometres away from Tiruchi, is usually the first village in the district where the traditional event is conducted a day after the Pongal festival.
The event is held on the second day of the Tamil month Thai on the Maatu Pongal day. Jallikattu was permitted in 28 villages in Tiruchi district last year. Around 500 bulls had taken part at Periyar Suriyur.
Villagers of Periyar Suriyur have already given a petition to the district administration seeking permission to organise the event in January.
