Mysuru: Cultural ambassadors of the ‘festival of the land’, well known as Dasara are the pachyderms which take part in the procession walking down the lanes of the city in a majestic manner from the world renowned Amba Vilas place to Bannimantap grounds. This time the Dasara Executive Committee has insured 12 pachyderms for Rs 32 lakhs along with their support staff and the mahouts.

In the first batch six elephants including golden howdah carrier Arjuna, Balarama, Abhimanyu,Vijaya and Kaveri are insured for Rs 16 lakhs and the Committee paid the premium amounting to Rs 60,000 to Oriental Insurance Company in this connection. In the second batch other six elephants including Harsha, Prashanth, Gopi, Gopalswamy and Durgaparameshwari will be inusred.

Herd captain Arjuna is insured for Rs five lakhs whereas for others the policy value varies from Rs three to five lakhs. The female elephants are insured for Rs one to two lakhs and the policy tenure will be for two months and insurance cover includes support staff, mahouts and their children according to Dr.Nagaraju.