Palakkad: The district administration has cancelled the permission granted to parade elephants during temple festivals in Palakkad district.

The District Monitoring Committee of Captive Elephants Management and Maintenance has taken the decision in a meeting held on Saturday. The meeting also recommended to control all kinds of percussions which attract crowd to the temple festivals.

ADditional District Magistrate (ADM) T Vijayan officially informed that the permission granted to parade elephants at temple festivals has been cancelled by the monitoring committee.

“Permission to parade elephants at the temple festivals granted by the district monitoring committee on March 6 has been cancelled. With this, captive elephants should not be taken for any kind of parading including temple festivals or offerings,” informed the ADM.

At the same time, temples which have a mandatory custom with elephants are allowed to perform the custom by parading a single elephant. For this purpose, the temple committee should seek special permission from the assistant forest conservator. The authority also warned that strict action will be taken against the people who violate the temporary ban on parading elephants.

The officials at the district level review meet on COVID-19 outbreak received recommendations to restrict parading elephants at the temple festivals. In a letter to the district authority, the chief forest officer also recommended to temporary ban parading elephants at festivals.