Hyderabad: The newly formed Telangana Elephant Welfare and Rehabilitation Society has booked an elephant to carry the historic Bibi ka Alam, as neither the state government nor Telangana Wakf Board has come forward so far to arrange an elephant for the traditional annual procession.
Till 2018, elephant Rajni of Nehru Zoological Park had carried the Bibi ka Alam on Ashoora. The pachyderm had been gifted by H. E. H. The Nizams Trust for the purpose of carrying the Alam. But this was stopped in the light of directives of High Court. In 2019, Telangana Wakf Board had sanctioned Rs. 3 lakh for bringing the elephant from Karnataka. Last year, however, there was no question of the procession due to the surge in Coronavirus cases.
Given the background, Telangana Elephant Welfare and Rehabilitation Society decided to book elephant Madhuri owned by Swastishri Jinsen Bhattarak Pattacharya, Mahaswami Sansthan Math, Maharashtra, for carrying the Alam this year. Society president M. S. Hasan said MLC Riyz-ul-Hasan Effendi and Wakf Board member Syed Nisar Hussain Hyder Agha have already requested the state government for issuing an NOC for transporting the elephant from Kolhapur, Maharashtra.
The society president said though the procession will be on the 10th day of Moharram, the last Islamic month, it is a practice to carry the rehearsal with the elephant on the 5th day of Moharram.
Meanwhile, minorities welfare minister Koppula Eshwar has convened a meeting on preparations for Moharram.
