MADURAI: With less than a week ahead for jallikattu season in Madurai, the district administration is set to begin online registration for bulls and baiters. However, many local bull owners and baiters expressed concern that they might not get opportunities to participate in jallikattu events hosted in their hometown as allotment of tokens is done in a random manner. They urged for a percentage of the tokens to be set aside for local bulls and baiters.
Sources said the three major jallikattu events in Madurai will commence from January 14 to 16 in Avaniyapuram, Palamedu, and Alanganallur respectively. The district administration has announced that online registration of baiters and bulls will start from 5 pm on January 6 and close at 5pm on January 7.
However, many bull owners and baiters are worried they would not be allotted tokens to participate in the event. Last year, ahead of the Avaniyapuram jallikattu, hundreds of bull owners and baiters staged protests alleging that they did not get tokens for the event due to the random allotment of tokens in the online registration process.
Tamil Nadu Jallikattu Training Centre and Bull Owners president Mudakathan Mani from Madurai told TNIE, “Due to online registration process, we have to wait till tokens are distributed to confirm whether our bulls are participating, that too a day before the jallikattu.”
Speaking to TNIE, collector M S Sangeetha said, “All participants who register within the allotted time get to take part in the jallikattu events.”