The proposed jallikattu here on January 9 will be held only if the State government gives permission and issues guidelines, Electricity Minister V. Senthilbalaji said here on Tuesday after inaugurating Pongal goodies distribution.
“If the government gives permission for jallikattu in southern districts, the event will be held in Coimbatore as well. It depends on the government’s decision,” he said in response to a question.
There was only a certain number of tokens the jallikattu organisers could issue depending on the time taken for the event. They could not accommodate every bull owners’ application and it was depending on the time factor that the organisers had decided to issue 800 – 850 participation tokens, he replied to a question on the organisers denying permission to a few bull owners.
The Minister denied allegations that there was nepotism in awarding contract for liquor bars and that persons from his native Karur district were favoured over applicants from Coimbatore.
It was a transparent process where the price quoted in every application for each bar was made public, he said.
The Tasmac had come up with 68 eligibility criteria for application and the award of contract was strictly based on the applicants fulfilling those. Number of years in running bars was definitely not one of those.
Those who had lost out on the contract for bars were now crying citing the years of experience they had had in running bars. This could not be considered as it was not an eligibility criterion.
In fact, the number of applications received to run bars was more this year. The Tasmac had received 11,700 applications as against 6,400 the last time. This itself showed that there was transparency, he pointed out.
As for Pongal goodies distribution, 10.78 lakh public distribution system card holders in Coimbatore would stand to gain.
The administration would complete distribution of the 20-item goodie kit before January 10.
A release from the district administration said Mr. Senthilbalaji inaugurated the distribution in fair price shops in Sulur, Ramanathapuram and a few other places.
Tiruppur
Minister for Information and Publicity M.P. Saminathan and Minister for Adi Dravidar and Tribal Welfare N. Kayalvizhi Selvaraj on Tuesday distributed Pongal gifts to beneficiaries at Rudravathi near Dharapuram.
A release said that 7,83,755 families would benefit in Tiruppur district and that the State government had allocated over ₹42 crore for distribution of Pongal gifts.