Balangir, Jan. 5: Tribal organisations have made their intention to celebrate the Sulia festival clear. They will celebrate it on Tuesday at Khairguda, about 25km from here.

At a meeting convened by the district administration here yesterday, tribal leaders told the administration that they would sacrifice animals during the festival come what may. The district administration, however, urged them to minimise animal sacrifice during the festival. The meeting yielded no result, as the tribal remained adamant on their stand to stick to their tradition and carry out the sacrifices.

The tribal people alleged that the district administration remembered them only at the time of the festival. Satya Narayan Bhoi of the Zilla Adivasi Sangha said: “The administration only remembers the tribals when the festival comes. While the administration does nothing regarding health, education and other issues concerning us, it wakes up when the Sulia festival comes and put pressure on us to stop animal sacrifice. This is not acceptable.”

Secretary of Joint Sulia Puja Committee of Khairguda and Kumuria Maya Padhani said he knew what the high court had ruled concerning the Sulia festival.

“The high court has not asked to stop animal sacrifice. It has told the administration to create awareness among the people against animal sacrifice. We have asked the administration several times to take up the awareness drive much before the festival. But they wait till the last moment and then try to forcibly stop the practice. The administration deploys a big police force and terrorise people and devotees,” Padhani said.

Padhani said the tribal people never invite others to come to the festival.

“It is the people and the devotees who come on their own for the sacrifices. The administration should take steps to create awareness among such people,” he said.

District collector M. Muthu Kumar said: “We will not do anything that goes against the traditions and customs of the tribal people. We just want to implement the high court order to minimise animal sacrifice.”

Balangir superintendent of police R. Prakash said animal sacrifice had come down considerably last year. “During the last year’s festival, the number of animal sacrifices had come down in comparison to other years. This year also, I am hopeful that there would be even lesser sacrifices. We will deploy police at the festival site a couple of days before the festival. We will try our best to see that minimum animal are sacrificed,” he said.