Bhawanipatna: Despite repeated appeals by the administration to desist from animal sacrifice, hundreds of goats and hens were slaughtered to “appease” Maa Manikeswar during the annual ‘Chhatar Jatra’ here on Sunday.
Every Mahastami, the 8th day of the annual Durga Puja, the streets of Bhawanipatna, the district headquarters town of tribal dominated Kalahandi in Odisha, turn bloodstained as people, both tribal and non-tribals, sacrifice animals in full public view and in presence of the administration, as part of their tradition.
A large number of animals were killed on the road as the procession of Maa Manikeswar, called Chhatar Jatra, began on Sunday morning. While goats and hens were sacrificed, people also released hundreds of doves to mark the occasion, eyewitnesses said.
“People’s religious sentiment is centuries old and the administration has been trying to sensitise them. Though there has been a decline in the number of animals being sacrificed, people still believe in the tradition. It will go away gradually,” Tanmaya Kumar Darwan, additional district magistrate of Kalahandi, told PTI over phone.
Bhawanipatna sub-collector Biswajit Das has appealed to people to maintain peace during the festival. The district administration maintained that though it appealed devotees to desist from animal sacrifice, there was no taker and the practice continues during Chhatar Jatra every year.
On Sunday morning, two buffaloes were sacrificed secretly before beginning of the Jatra to the temple accompanied by servitors and folk cultural troupes.
Kalahandi collector Anwesha Reddy held a series of meetings with senior officials, police and public representatives and announcements were also made in the public address system and social media to desist people from animal sacrifice. However, due to age-old belief and tradition, it had no impact on devotees, the ADM said.
The 3km journey of Chhatra took about 7 hours as more than 4 lakh people had congregated at Bhawanipatna town for the occasion, police said, adding that devotees from neighbouring states like Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh also took part in the festival.
PTI