THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: In an unprecedented move, Animal Welfare Board of India has sent a missive to the state revenue and forest officials asking them to prohibit the conduct of Thrissur Pooram on April 29.
The AWBI letter states that the ‘Pooram’ can be held, but only after the authorities secure performing animals registration for the 30-odd elephants that would be paraded. Senior officials have ignored the missive.
“The ‘pooram’ is part of the Malayali psyche and it cannot be banned simply because the Board wishes it,” a top forest official said. AWBI, which functions under the MoEF, seems to have anticipated the state’s apathy.
“It has been a week since we sent our letter but there has been response till now. It is not as if we expected a positive response,” said Dr Manilal Valliyate, AWBI’s co-opeted member.
If the state considers the AWBI to be a pushover organisation, Dr Manilal issues a warning.
“It was AWBI that moved the court to ban ‘jallikkattu’, Tamil Nadu’s bull race. And ‘jallikkattu’, unlike Thrissur Pooram that is confined to a small area in Thrissur, was conducted all over Tamil Nadu,” he said.
According to AWBI, the conduct of the pooram without the elephants getting registered under the performing animals’ rules is illegal.
The Supreme Court, in an order in 2009, had designated the AWBI as the “prescribed authority” to implement the performing animals’ registration rules.
The latest missive from AWBI is not a bolt from the blue either. The state government itself had, on June 23, 2008, issued a directive to Devaswom boards mandating that elephants be registered with the AWBI.
The board had also previously written to the forest minister and the chief wildlife warden stating that no elephants should be paraded or used in poorams without first being registered with the AWBI.
The Project Elephant has also been intimated of the AWBI missive. The strategy is to move court if the state still goes ahead with the ‘pooram’ without any explanation.
