Maharashtra govt looks to bring back bullock-cart races

The Bill is to be tabled in the Budget session, which starts on March 6

On the heels of the BJP’s stellar performance in the elections to the municipal corporations and zilla parishads in Maharashtra, the BJP-led government in the state will table a Bill in the Assembly to lift the ban on bullock-cart races, ostensibly to deepen its relations with the farming community.
 
The Bill, to be tabled in the Budget session, which starts on March 6, is expected to be similar to the one passed by the Tamil Nadu Assembly for conducting Jallikattu, the bull-taming sport.
 
The demand from parties to legalise the sport had been growing, especially after the Tamil Nadu Assembly in January unanimously passed a Bill to amend the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960, to allow Jallikattu.

 

Legislative Affairs Minister Girish Bapat said Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had told the leaders of various parties that the opinion of the law department and judiciary had been sought on this. He however, declined to divulge the details.
 
A senior government official told Business Standard, “There is a ban on bullock-cart races after the Supreme Court directives in 2014. The state government in March 2013 had lifted the ban after the apex court had allowed bullock-cart races with some riders. However, the Supreme Court reinstated the ban as the organisers of the races failed to follow the conditions laid down by it.”

 
The official said the government intended to frame the rules after the Bill was passed by the Assembly. This is to avoid ill-treatment of the animals.
 
Nationalist Congress Party leader and former Assembly Speaker Dilip Walse-Patil said he had been pursuing the matter with the state government and the Centre. ''I had planned to move a private member's Bill in the state legislature. If the state government proposes to table a Bill it is a welcome move,'' he noted.
 
Shiv Sena MP Shivajirao Adhalrao said he had been fighting a legal battle in the Supreme Court in support of the sport for the past three years and had raised the issue in the Lok Sabha.