Collector grants conditional nod, Thechikottukavu Ramachandran to parade in Thrissur Pooram

Thrissur: The district administration has given a conditional permit to feature 54-year-old tusker, Thechikottukavu Ramachandran, in Thrissur Pooram.

The District Collector, TV Anupama granted the permission after a team of doctors handed over her a report of the examination which found the animal healthy.

Earlier, the Collector had banned the parading of the elephant after it killed two persons in February this year. The partially blind animal has killed seven people in the past and is considered a tough elephant to handle.

The tusker is supposed to symbolically push open the southern entrance of Thrissur's Vadakkunnathan temple on Sunday, which signal the start of the main events of the Pooram festivities.

Thrissur Pooram is billed as the 'mother of all festivals' in Kerala and its history dates back to the late 18th century when it was started by Sakthan Thampuran, the 'Maharaja' of the erstwhile Kochi state.

The most keenly watched event of festivities is the parading of more than 50 elephants along with cracker displays.