The Tourism Department will organise an elephant festival, which will witness a line-up of 300 elephants, at Thekkinkadu Maidan in Thrissur, Devaswom Minister Kadakampally Surendran has said.
The final decision will be taken after evaluating the security arrangements, he adds.
The Minister was speaking after inaugurating the 13th State conference of the Elephant Owners Federation at Kousthubham Auditorium here on Saturday.
K.B. Ganesh Kumar, MLA, said the elephants would be given free for parading during the Gajolsavam. “Elephants are an innovative part of festivals. We cannot bring about a blanket ban on elephant parading in the name of one or two untoward incidents. We should protect our festival culture.”
The guidelines and rules are for the protection of the elephants. We should be able to parade elephants by maintaining these rules, he added. Lack of coordination between various departments caused a controversy over parading of Thechikkottukavu Ramachandran for the last Pooram, he said. Mayor Ajitha Vijayan presided over.
The Iravatha Bhishagwara Shreshta Puraskaram, the award for best elephant expert, was presented to K.C. Panikker, and Mathanga Jeevithavarya Puraskaram to Avanaparambu Maheswaran Namboothirippad.
The Davis Memorial award for best mahout was presented to Mani Erimayur. Mookuthala Narayanan Nair, the mahout of Guruvayur Keshavan, was felicitated. Relief for injured mahouts and ailing elephant workers was distributed. A Pandimelam led by Kizhakkoot Aniyan Marar and Kelath Aravindakshan Marar followed.
