Arjuna, Balarama, Abhimanyu, Gajendra, Kaveri, and Vijaya will have to watch what they eat over the next few weeks.
The six Dasara jumbos, which will get a royal welcome into the Mysuru palace premises on August 26, will have CCTV cameras keeping an eye on them.
This measure, taken for the first time, was to make sure that those visiting the palace to watch the gentle giants do not feed or disturb them. Seven surveillance cameras will be installed around the palace area, including the makeshift enclosures where the tuskers will be housed, say forest officials.
The elephants have a strict diet regimen and schedule, especially during the Dasara festival, along with their rehearsal schedule. But this is often disturbed by visitors. “This measure is a way of fixing accountability,” said Deputy Conservator of Forests Ganesh Bhat, who is in-charge of Dasara elephants.
The elephants are put on a special diet to ensure they gain adequate strength and weight. The diet includes rice, wheat, legumes apart from green grass and branch fodder. The food is specially cooked and fed them by their respective mahouts or kavadis.
A temporary control room will be set up close to the pond where food items for the jumbos will be stocked and a forest staff will keep watch on the elephants round the clock in shifts until the festivities get over. Meanwhile, Gajendra, which was left out of the elite jumbo squad last year after it gored to death celebrated Dasara jumbo Srirama and a kavadi, has been inducted back. This reward was because he has been on “good behaviour” over the last year, according the forest officials.
