Shiv Sena MP from Shirur, Shivajirao Adhalrao Patil, on Monday told TOI that the state government has assured concrete steps will be taken to ensure bullock cart racing resumes in the state once the civic polls are over.
“I have been advocating and am strongly of the opinion that bullock cart racing should be restarted in Maharashtra. The state government should take a proactive approach to this.Things are now quiet because of the elections. However, I have spoken at length about the matter with chief minister Devendra Fadnavis and he has assured me the state government will work seriously towards ensuring bullock cart racing starts again in Maharashtra once the elections come to an end. It might not be immediately after the elections end; it might take around 10 days’ time,” Patil said. He added that he expected a cabinet decision on reinstating the race soon.
In January, following the protests in Tamil Nadu to restore Jallikattu, the MP had demanded that bullock cart racing should be reinstated in Maharashtra and that the state government should intervene like the TN government had.
“The Supreme Court ban ned bullock cart racing on May 7, 2014, and it was initiated by UPA-II. Since then, many farmers and I have been fighting against this in the SC,” Patil had said in earlier talks with TOI, adding that the Shiv Sena would hold fresh state-wide agitations against the ban.