3 days ago
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Minister for Forest, Ecology, and Environment Eshwar B. Khandre has warned that safari tours would be completely suspended if the human-animal conflict situation in the State does not ease.
At a meeting convened in Chamarajanagar which was attended by other Ministers, officials, and local stakeholders, the Minister noted that officials expressed their inability to deploy additional staff in conflict-prone areas flagging manpower shortage. In such cases, staff from the safari zones should be deployed and reassigned to those conflict areas, he added.
Mr. Khandre called for a better coordination between various departments to prevent conflict situations and directed the officials to initiate schemes to increase fodder availability in the natural habitats of wild animals. This will ensure both herbivores and carnivores stay inside the forest, he said, adding that lantana and other invasive weeds should be cleared.
Action plan
An eight-point action plan was also announced on the occasion. This includes identifying all areas affected by human-wildlife conflicts and to list the specific nature of problems in each area, to deploy human resources based on the severity of the conflict and re-deploy staff from nearby ranges, to intensify patrolling and install GPS devices on all patrol vehicles, increase patrolling in villages bordering forests and maintain patrol registers, among others. Senior officials were directed to visit the villages frequently and interact with the local community.
Mr. Khandre also advocated for local participation and said that young people from fringe villages should be identified and designated as forest ‘mitras’ in order to involve them in patrolling and other operations. Availability of vehicles for rescues and relief on a 24x7 basis, conducting mock drills on rescue and demonstrating how to react during wildlife attack, and the constitution of coordination committees to review and strengthen conflict-control measures were other points mooted in the meeting.
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