VIJAYAWADA: Despite strict police vigil, organisers and punters are gearing up for organising cockfights during Sankranti festival in twin Godavari and Krishna districts.
To wean youth away from gambling, cockfights and other banned games during the harvest festival, Krishna district police have been organising various programmes in the villages for the past two weeks.
Besides conducting sports events, special police teams have been formed to organise the events at village and town level. Sports events like cricket, tennis, volleyball, Kabaddi and other games were planned in Avanigadda, Nuzvid, Jaggayyapeta, Machilipatnam and Gudivada divisions. “Utilising all the available resources, police are explaining the importance of Sankranti festival and appealing to villagers to participate in the celebrations in a traditional manner instead of wasting money on cockfights and gambling. We are making all efforts to ensure no blood is spilled on arenas,” said Krishna SP M Ravindranath Babu.
Despite police officials conducting various special drives and awareness sessions to distract villagers from indulging in anti-social activities during the festival, gamblers in villages abutting Vijayawada and other rural areas in Krishna district are getting ready to organise games like number play, popularly known as “Gundata”, and other banned games in the name of Sankranti celebrations.
In Krishna district alone, over 500 cases of gambling and 50 cases were registered for organising cockfights in the past one week. The district police also filed bind over cases against 1,000 persons who participated in cockfights and gambling earlier. As part of the drive, police destroyed cockfight arenas in Veeravalli, Reddigudem, G Konduru, Tiruvuru and Nuzvid in the district.
Police, I-T officials to conduct raids
In an attempt to prevent cockfights and gambling, West Godavari Collector Revu Mutyala Raju wrote a letter to the Income Tax department to conduct joint search operations during the festival. “Every year, thousands of crores are exchanged during the festival as influential and rich persons throng the arenas and place bets on roosters. This will bring some fear among organisers and public,” said West Godavari SP Narayan Naik
Hotels and lodges reserved in advance
According to sources, all hotels, lodges and service apartments in Bhimavaram, Juvvalapalem, I Bhimavaram, Kallakuru and several other towns in East and West Godavari districts are filled with guests from various places as the festival is wildly popular for illegal competitions and other events