Bengaluru: The State Government has decided to table a Bill to legalise kambala, the traditional buffalo race in coastal areas. The Bill will be tabled in the upcoming session of the State legislature.

Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs T B Jayachandra said the Bill could be tabled in the session which will begin on February 6. The minister said that the Department of Animal Husbandry had been directed to submit a proposal seeking legal status for conducting kambala.

The minister said the proposal would be discussed in the Cabinet and then tabled in the legislature session.

Stating that the government was in favour of the buffalo race, he said that kambala, a rural sport, was linked to the social and religious sentiments of the people. There was also a proposal to amend the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act to allow bullock cart race, a traditional sport of rural Karnataka.