MADURAI: The countdown has begun and the district is waiting with bated breath for the mighty spectacle, jallikattu, that will be on in less than a week. Inaugurating the ‘Pandakkal’ installing ceremony at Alanganallur here on Sunday, Minister for Revenue, Disaster Management and Information Technology, RB Udhayakumar said that a total of 1,736 tamers have been declared medically fit for the jallikattu events to be held in Madurai in the coming week.
Lauding Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami and Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam for their efforts to conduct the event and for giving Pongal gifts along with Rs 2,500 to the public, Udhayakumar said that the best tamer and the best bull would be given a car each on behalf of the Chief Minister and the Deputy Chief Minister.
Further, speaking about the ongoing preparatory works, he said that several inter-departmental teams headed by Collector T Anbalagan have been formed to ensure that safety precautions are adhered to during the events. Guidelines to install barricades on both sides of the arena to the collecting point have also been issued. CCTV cameras will be installed at all the check points.
The minister said that the event coordinators are experienced in crowd management. “However, this jallikattu will be a different experience to all of us, as we have to ensure physical distancing and other SOPs are in place. We have planned to install steel seating arrangement with physical distancing marks,” he added.