Over 3,000 villagers gathered at Gudupalle mandal headquarters of Kuppam Assembly constituency on Sunday to witness the frenzied ‘Pasuvula Panduga’, the Chittoor version of Tamil Nadu’s Jallikattu.
Compared to the previous years, the number of participants and the cattle was fewer this year due to the weekend lockdown in Tamil Nadu.
A bull race event was also reported from Jarugu village of Kuppam mandal.
The event, which commenced around noon, went on till evening at the venue near the office of the MPDO at Gudupalle. Hundreds of youths joined the competitions, trying to tame the aggressive bulls and own the trophies tied to their horns.
The Kuppam rural police made elaborate security arrangements for the peaceful conduct of the event. About 10 onlookers were said to have been slightly injured when the raging bulls strayed into the crowds at Gudupalle.
As the COVID-19 graph is on the rise at the tri-State Kuppam junction, spread over Kuppam, Gudupalle, Shantipuram, and Ramakuppam mandals, the medical and police officials expressed fears about conducting the bull races.
Mailar Panduga on Jan. 20
The organisers of the ‘Mailar Panduga’ (bull race) at Kenamakula Palli village of Shantipuram mandal are giving wide publicity to the event scheduled to be held on January 20.
The organisers have fixed the entry fee for each bull at ₹2,000. As many as 32 prizes have been announced, ranging from ₹2,001 to ₹50501, along with the names of the sponsors. As the venue is close to the Kolar gold fields in Karnataka, many inter-State participants are expected.
Meanwhile, the daily tally of COVID-19 cases stood at 1,124 in Chittoor district. Of these, more than 700 cases were reported from Tirupati and Chittoor municipal corporation limits. One death was also reported in the district in the last 24 hours ending Sunday morning.
