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Mahouts threaten to boycott Mysore Dasara festivities
| They want their long-pending demands conceded by August 15 |
The long march: A file photo of Dasara elephants preparing to leave the camp in the Nagarahole forest for Mysore.
MYSORE: As the countdown for “Gajapayana”, scheduled to be held on August 18, has began, the tribal people living in the Nagarahole forest and mahouts and kavadis (helpers) of caparisoned elephants have threatened to boycott the Dasara festivities if the State Government “fails” to concede their long-pending demands.
This has put the authorities in a piquant situation. “Gajapayana” is the ceremonial event in which the elephants participating in the “Jamboo Savari” march to Mysore Palace from the camps in the Nagarahole forest.
M.B. Prabhu of the Bharateeya Girijana Shikshana Samsthe (BGSS) has made it clear that the mahouts will not allow the customary “Gajapayana” if their demands are not fulfilled. The samsthe is also thinking of taking a procession of elephants to the Vidhana Soudha to draw the attention of the Government to the long-pending demands of the tribal people and mahouts.
This is not the first time the samsthe and mahouts have threatened to boycott the Dasara festivities. But this year, the threat has assumed a new dimension as it is the larger tribal community to which the mahouts belong, is thinking of boycotting the festivities. And given the close ties among the tribal people, even the mahouts employed by the Forest Department may find it difficult to go against such a decision.
The main demand of the tribal people is a long-term rehabilitation package to improve their living conditions.
Mr. Prabhu told The Hindu that the other demands included regularisation of the services of the mahouts who had been working in the Forest Department for the past two decades on daily wage basis, and rehabilitation of the tribal people who had been displaced from the Nagarahole Forest. “We have met district in-charge Minister Shobha Karandlaje and briefed her about our demands and a formal representation has been sent to the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests. We have set August 15 as the deadline for the Government to concede our demands. If our demands are not met, we will stage a symbolic protest,” he said.
He said there were 206 mahouts and kavadis in the elephant camps at Sakrebylu, K. Gudi, Bheemeshwari, Dubare, Doddabelavakuppe, Thithimati, Moorkal and Bannerghatta besides 106 tamed elephants. The Government regularised the services of only 18 mahouts in 2006. Though the mahouts were supposed to get Rs. 120 as daily wage, they were not getting it because of the corrupt forest officials, he alleged.
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