Come
Sankranti festival, the Bhimavaram town in West Godavari district also known
popularly as the second Bardoliof India comes alive with gambling,
coco-fighting and huge marketing for FCMG goods .
The
festivities and free gambling and merry making in the Godavari districts is so
popular on the east coast that tourists from Odisha, West Bengal, Chennai and
also other parts of Telangana land in large number as guests of local
contractors, politicians and social elites of the coastal andhra. Bhimavaram
also known aqua capital of the coastal area also emerges as open air shopping
hub of jewellery, cloth, seafood, electronics for the entire region . 'All FMCG
giants' set up shopping marts all along the Howrah high way from Tanuku to
Elimanchili for two to three days and sell crores worth goods' says a local
YSRC MLA M Rajesh Kumar
The
rural people of Godavari districts are often seen conversing at road junctions
not about the Srikrishna Committee report on bifurcation of APor the issue of
compensation for crop losses sustained in last month's heavy rains.But they are
seen animatedly discussing the preparations for cockfights, the illegal but
popular sensational sport which is widespread in coastal Andhra region during
the Sankranti season.
'We
know that the Telangana issue will not be settled in a day or two. But the
cockfight season will be over within 10 days. So we are busy with these
arrangements,' says Satyanarayana, an organiser of cockfights in Korukonda
mandal of Godavari district.
The
three day festival of Sankranti is celebrated in myriad forms.Here the
notorious cock fight has its own essence and is all set to raise toast to the
roosters . Local police and industry sources say that the cock fights are
expected to fetch Rs.400 crore this year against Rs.200 crore of 2013. ' There
is great rush and crush to participate in this event as , this could be the
last year to be conducted in united Andhra ', says a senior TDP MLA T V Rama
Rao of Kovvur.
Despite
the ban, politicians, their relatives, businessmen and landlords and special
invites from far away Hyderabad , Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai and even
Bhuwaneswar , Raipur and Kolkatta participate and bet huge amounts of money on
cockfights every year. Disregarding the ban and stern warnings issued by the
police against organizing cockfights and indulging in betting, political
leaders openly participate in the gambling.
The
fights between the specially-bred and trained cocks are organized in open
fields as thousands of people watch them. Three to four inch-long blades are
tied to the cocks' legs and the fight continues till one of the birds dies. As
groups watch the fights,brisk card game,boozing and shopping continues side by
side along the sandy beaches and highway villages
Police
have put up check-posts all along these districts to prevent the cockfights.'
'We have arrest 120 organisers and over 1000 fighting cocks , but the event is
still high voltage across the coastal districts ' says T Baburao Rayudu,
district joint collector heading the special task force against these events .
However,
leaders are putting pressure on the police, arguing that cockfights are part of
the people's tradition and they should not view it merely as gambling. This
year, the number of cockfights have increased by leaps and bounds as there is
no politician to advise them not to participate. In some places, the cockfights
are organized round-the-clock with the help of floodlights, backed by power
generators. These have boosted liquor sales, said to be the highest in the
whole year.
'Through
cock fights we net up to Rs.2-3 crore a day and liquor sales are in the region
of Rs.1crore -Rs.2 crore per day,' said Prakash Rao, a village head of seafront
village on the backwaters of Bay of Bengal and close to Mugalthur, the native
of actor and Union minister Chiranjeevi.
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