Mysuru: To keep tab on visitors, more CCTV cameras will be installed at the enclosures in Palace premises where 12 Dasara elephants will be kept. The CCTV cameras will also be installed where food will be prepared for the elephants.
The decision to install CCTV cameras was taken by the Forest Department officials to closely monitor the activities of the visitors to the Palace who tend to tease and irritate the elephants, resulting in the pachyderms turning violent.

The first batch of six elephants Arjuna, Balarama, Abhimanyu, Gajendra, Kaveri and Vijaya will arrive in Mysuru from their respective forest camps on August 21 and would be housed at Aloka premises at Yelwal.

They will be accorded a traditional welcome at the Jayamarthanda Gate of the Palace on August 26. All the jumbos would be tethered in an enclosure near Kodi Someshwara temple where three CCTV cameras would be installed.

The second batch of six elephants Gopalaswamy, Vikram, Gopi, Durga Parameshwari, Harsha and Prashanta which will arrive later would be tethered near Gayatridevi temple in Palace premises where two cameras would be installed and one more would be installed at the room where food would be prepared for the elephants. The camera footage would be monitored by a staff specially deputed for the job.

 The Gajapayana will be flagged off at Nagapura Tribal Ashram School in Gurupura Gram Panchayat, Hunsur taluk by Mysuru District in-charge Minister H.C. Mahadevappa on August 21 at 11 am.