Kerala - Thrissur   

100 elephants to attend Gajasamgamam

Staff Reporter

THRISSUR: Over 100 elephants from different parts of the State will be paraded at a `Gajasamgamam' on Vadakkunnathan Temple premises in the city on Sunday morning.

At a press conference here on Wednesday, office-bearers of the organising committee said a health camp for elephants and mahouts would also be held on that day. Distribution of health cards to the mahouts and exhibition of elephant-related photographs would also form part of the programme.

The programme was being organised by the Kerala State Elephant Owners' Multi-purpose Cooperative Society, formed to address the problems of the elephants and those who worked with them.

The organisers said the event, which would resemble the famous Thrissur Pooram in many respects, had been arranged to mark the inauguration of the Society.

The society proposed to set up a super-specialty hospital for elephants and infrastructure for treating them as `in-patients' as well as mobile units to treat them in emergency situations.

There was also a proposal for starting an elephant research centre and a training centre for mahouts and setting up facilities for cremating dead elephants.

The Forest Department would be requested to install microchips on elephants to recognise each of them and the society would render all assistance for this, they said.

Special reflector-fitted attires for mahouts made abroad would be distributed free of cost at the function. They would also be given free insurance, mediclaim and Onam gifts there.

The District Tourism Promotion Council's (DTPC) Onam festival would be inaugurated at the function. The district panchayat, the city corporation, the Cochin Devaswom Board and the DTPC are collaborating in the conduct of the programme.

A host of prominent persons, including the Ministers G. Sudhakaran, Binoy Viswom and K.P. Rajendran, are expected to take part in the programme.

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