A herd of camels rescued by the police in Jalpaiguri has become the bone of contention between them and cricket lovers.

Police have kept the camels at a local ground where a cricket tournament would commence after four days. The entry of the camels and trucks in which the animals arrived has extensively damaged the ground ahead of the tourney, cricket enthusiasts alleged.

Sources said on Wednesday night, a team of Kotwali police station acted on a tip-off and intercepted two trucks with 12 camels being illegally taken to Tripura from Rajasthan.

The truck drivers failed to produce any document validating the movement of the camels. This made the police seize the vehicles and arrest four persons in the trucks.

After the seizure, sources said that the police brought the trucks near the JYMA ground, a popular cricket ground of Jalpaiguri town.

The police team engaged an excavator and broke the gate to create space for the trucks. The trucks moved in and the camels were brought down. Since then, the camels are there in the ground.

“The police brought trucks and an excavator. As I protested, they asked me to stay away. The field has got extensively damaged,” said Ramasish Prasad, the gardener who stays in the JYMA ground.

From February 14, a cricket league organised by the District Sports Association is supposed to start at the ground.

As the news spread, club members as well as sports enthusiasts of the town got angry and wanted to know why the police could not find another venue to keep the camels.

“The field has already got damaged owing to entry of the vehicles. Also, the camels are straying in the ground> There is very little chance now that the tournament can be held here,” said Kanai Dasgupta, a joint secretary of the club.

On Thursday evening, sports enthusiasts held a march in town to protest the police action. “It is an unprecedented incident. The police have damaged a club ground without reason. Such practices should stop,” said Kumar Dutta, secretary of the District Sports Association.

Police officers, when asked, said they needed a ground to keep the camels. “If the field has got damaged, we will talk to representatives of the club,” said Samir Pal, the deputy superintendent of police (headquarters) of Jalpaiguri.