Come Sankranti season, the rural areas in the western mandals of Chittoor district are abuzz with rooster fights, with the surrounding forests and hillocks providing the much required secure ground for the organisers.
It is a well-organised activity here, and increased vigil and arrests have failed to work as a deterrent, much to the discomfiture of the police.
Preparations start from September, when young roosters are picked and fed with choicest food, which includes frogs, water snakes, rodents and lizards besides regular cereals coated with proteins. The competitions begin in November and continue till the second week of March, which usually marks the end of winter.
"Rooster fights are organised in a big way in Bangarupalem, Palamaner, Kuppam, Yerravaripalem, K.V. Palle, Piler and Pakala mandals. Despite steps by the police to curb the activity, prohibited under the Gaming Act, the menace only seems to be gaining in strength with each passing year," says circle inspector (Crime Records Bureau) M. Mahesh, talking to The Hindu .
Big opportunity
"The number of cases has been going up over the years. In 2018, nearly 700 persons were arrested and 67 cases registered in Chittoor, Madanapalle, Palamaner and Puttur sub-divisions. About ₹1 crore was seized," he explains. Sometimes organizers go to the extent of questioning the police interference in the matter, citing the encouragement to such cockfights in North Andhra where some Ministers inaugurate the events. Often, in the face of stiff resistance from organisers, police remain helpless, he laments.
Harvest season throws a big opportunity for rooster fight organisers to lure farmers flush with funds. And there is no dearth of farmers, both big and small, and farm workers looking for some recreation and quick money from betting this time of the year in the hundreds of villages on either side of the 200-km border the district shares with Tamil Nadu.
Early start in the east
In the eastern mandals of Satyavedu, Varadaiahpalem and B.N. Kandriga, rooster fights begin much early in August.
In December, the Varadaiahpalem police arrested 25 persons and seized six fighter cocks. The Satyavedu circle police registered six cases in a span of two months, involving several batches of punters. In fact, the eastern mandals, which share a porous border with Tamil Nadu, are considered the hotbed of rooster fights which happen in fields and forest areas.
A number of villages at the foot of Seshachalam biosphere in Yerravaripalem actively host rooster fights drawing the lovers of the sport from the adjoining Kadapa district in a large number.
The police deplore that political leaders from the grassroot level to the upper echelons interfere whenever raids are made on cockfights. Some political leaders directly participate in the activity, making it embarrassing for the police to step into the arena, a few officials say.
