Pilikula kambala to resume on November 17

Mangalore Today News Network

Mangaluru, November 2, 2024: A meeting of legislators and officials presided over by Dakshina Kannada in-charge Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao here on Friday decided to resume organising the government-romoted kambala at the Dr. Shivaram Karanth Pilikula Nisargadhama for two days from November 17.

The pilikula kambala was last held in December 2014. It was stopped after People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), India, raised objections citing animal cruelty.

The meeting on Friday also decided to extend some programmes of Karavali Utsav 2024 to the nisargadhama.

Deputy Commissioner M. P. Mullai Muhilan suggested that the Karavali Utsav can be organised for one month from December 14. It can be inaugurated on the evening of December 13.

S.R. Rashmi, Assistant Director (in-charge), Department of Tourism, told the meeting that construction of the “kare” (double tracks) for the kambala at Pilikula has been completed to an extent of 70%. Organising the kamabla requires ₹70 lakh grant. MLC Manjunath Bhandary has sanctioned ₹5 lakh for the purpose. The fund has been released to Nirmiti Kendra, she said.

Moodbidri-Mulky MLA Umanath Kotian said that the district administration should bear the entire cost of organising the kambala at Pilikua which falls under the Assembly constituency he is representing.

Mr. Rao instructed the officials concerned to form a committee comprising elected representatives and officials for holding the kambala.

Belapu Deviprasad Shetty, president, Kambala Samithi of Dakshina Kannada, Udupi and Kasaragod districts, appealed to the government to release a grant of ₹5 lakh to the organisers of each kambala to promote it.

Karavali Utsav

The Deputy Commissioner said that attempts will be made to attract more tourists to pilikula by holding some programmes of the Karavali Utsav there. The cultural village and urban hatt at the nisargadhama will be used for this.

Drawing the attention of the meeting, Ashok Kumar Rai, Puttur MLA, said that petitions have been filed in the Karnataka High Court against organising kambala in Bengaluru and at Pilikula. Responding to it, the Deputy Commissioner said that he will look into it.

It may be mentioned here that H. Jayaprakash Bhandary, director of Pilikula Biological Park, which is among the 18 major zoos in the country and which is situated inside the nisargadhama spread over 370 acres, wrote to the Deputy Commissioner this September that it was not prudent to resume kambala, near the park, because of the safety of captive animals. In the earlier kambalas held in pilikula a decade ago, the zoo animals exhibited abnormal behaviour and took a couple of weeks to return to normalcy, Mr. Bhandary said.

He also appealed to the Deputy Commissioner to declare 500-m radius around the zoo as a silent zone in view of the safety of animals.

During kambala, the noise is so high that it is heard up to 2 km. High-volume loud speakers, bands, and crackers are used in kambala as a practice. The animal houses in the zoo are very close to the Kambala area, the letter said.