Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

Bid to enforce elephant management rules

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The government is examining ways to effectively enforce the regulations relating to the use of elephants at temple festivals during the upcoming Pooram season in Thrissur district.

Forest Minister Benoy Viswom called a meeting of officials to discuss the issue here on Thursday. Devaswom Minister G. Sudhakaran and Revenue Minister K.P. Rajendran also attended the meeting.

The meeting decided to instruct the Thrissur District Collector to call a meeting of the temple authorities, elephant-lovers’ organisations and elephant owners of the district for soliciting the cooperation of all for implementing the regulations.

Elephants that turn violent causing loss of life will not be allowed to be used in temple festivals for 15 days from the incident, the Forest Minister’s office said in a press release. Such elephants will be cleared for festivals only after a detailed medical examination by a team consisting of the Forest veterinary surgeon, two other government veterinary officers and three veterinary doctors.

A committee chaired by the District Collector will be formed in each district within a month for monitoring the use of elephants at temple festivals. This committee will discourage the tendency to use elephants at non-traditional programmes and festivals, the press release said.

Thursday’s meeting appointed a committee headed by Additional Chief Secretary K. Jayakumar to recommend ways to strictly enforce the Kerala Captive Elephants (Management and Maintenance) Rules of 2003.

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