Salem: Despite all the precautions taken by the Salem district administration to comply with the rules and norms for holding the bull-taming game in connection with 2019 Pongal festival season, at least 30 bull-tamers were injured, four of them critically, at a ‘jallikattu’ event at Koolametti in Athur taluk of Salem district on Friday.
It was a grand show with 519 bulls drawn from neighbouring districts featuring in the ‘jallikattu’ event and 242 bull-tamers, divided into three groups for the purpose of the event, vying for honours and attractive prizes. Prizes were also given to bull-owners whose bulls could not be tamed at the venue.
Among the four critically injured bull-tamers, two were rushed to the Mohan Kumaramangalam government hospital in Salem, while two others were admitted to Athur GH.
Earlier, the Salem district collector Dr Rohini Bhajubhkare, flanked by the district SP, Ms Deepa Kanickar Athur MLA, M M Chinnathambi, besid-es other top officials, flagged off the 'jallikattu' event.
Prior to the formal ceremony, the collector led an oath-taking ceremony in which all concerned took a pledge to observe all the rules and norms stipulated for the conduct of ‘jallikattu’ by the court. Speaking on the occasion, Dr Rohini said all the participant bull-tamers went through the required medical test. Veterinarians ensured that the bulls lined up for the event did not have sharp horns, one of the norms to make the game safe. After their medical examination, the ‘jallikattu’ was allowed to be organised only after the Animal Welfare Board of India officials gave the clearance certificate, explained the collector. Medical teams had been stationed at the game-site besides an ‘108 ambulance’ kept ready for any emergency, she added.
