The much-hyped 500-km ‘walkathon’ from Bhubaneswar to Kolkata by wonderkid Budhia Singh failed to take off today. Armed by a directive of the Khurda District Child Welfare Committee, a quasi-judge which had imposed a ban on the wonderkid being used or engaged in the event, the district authorities stopped the programme that was to be flagged off here this morning.

After a prolonged wrangling between senior district officials and the organisers of the event, Budhia was not allowed to proceed. Budhia’s mentor Biranchi Das, who was coordinating the programme, said he was thinking of moving the court against the Committee’s order. District Collector, N C Jena, and Superintendent of Police Amitav Thakur visited the judo training centre on Lewis Road here from where the entourage was scheduled to be flagged off on a 11-day journey.

Two platoons of the state police were deployed at the spot. The SP said, “I would take action if they tried to go ahead forcibly.” Das had earlier said the walkathon was proposed to create awareness about sports in eastern India with the focus on Budhia who is already an icon. A slum child, Budhia had created a sensation on May 2 last year when he ran non-stop from Puri to Bhubaneswar, covering a distance of over 65 km.