Aadhaar not a must for jallikattu, clarify officials

Parthiban, Vadipatti tahsildar, said that only a residential proof was sought from the tamers and they were asked to produce any one of the government authorised documents such as Aadhaar, ration or voter ID card. He added that none of the entries were rejected citing failure to produce Aadhaar card. 

For the first time, a printed ID card with photo of the respective bull tamers was issued and address proof was sought for registration. 

A section of tamers claimed that Aadhaar card was made mandatory and those who failed to produce it were made to wait. However, officials rejected the claim. The registrations for Avaniyapuram and Palamedu jallikattu, which will be held on January 14 and 15 respectively, commenced on Thursday. On the first day, both bulls and tamers were registered in Avaniyapuram, while only tamers were enrolled in Palamedu. 

The jallikattu bulls will be registered in Palamedu on Friday. Similarly, the registration for Alanganallur jallikattu will begin on Friday, for both bulls and tamers. Both in Avaniyapuram and Palamedu, the bulls, owners and tamers waited from 3 am to register for the event. 

A total of 30 mobile medical teams each were present in both the venues to assess the physical fitness of the bull tamers. Similarly, 10 teams of veterinarians were present to certify the bulls. At the end of day, 623 tamers and 954 bulls were selected for Avaniyapuram event and 1,188 tamers were short-listed for Palamedu jallikattu.