Daijiworld Media Network – Udupi (RJP)

Udupi, Nov 14: Udupi district administration has been directed to follow the ban on Kambala, ordered by the Supreme Court.

Supreme Court had ordered the ban on Kambala, the famous buffalo bull race of coastal Karnataka citing the reason of animal cruelty. The Indian animal welfare board had gone to the court demanding the ban on Kambala. The court after hearing the writ application had favoured the ban on the game.

Now state chief secretary has dispatched the copy of the verdict of the court to the district administration.

The district administration had received applications to hold Kambala events from November 15, 2014 to March 28, 2015 in different places. But within days of the planned events to take place the order of the ban has come.

The Kambala is a game played in three states of Karnataka, Maharashtra and Tamilnadu in different forms for centuries. In the undivided Dakshina Kannada, it is called Kambla and played in its own distinct style.

Various pro animal organizations have been demanding the ban on the game citing violence on animals. It is said that violence on the animals is not practiced in the region and so many modifications have taken place in the recent past to make it animal friendly.

The Supreme Court had passed the order on May 7, 2014. But the implementation has started just now as the Kambala season is about to begin.