Mariyanda Sanket Poovayya, Member of the Karnataka State Wildlife Conservation Committee speaking at a press conference in Madikeri recently said that the government has already taken necessary steps to find a scientific solution to prevent wildlife-human conflict. He also informed that a committee comprising the chief minister as chairman, forest minister as vice chairman, assembly members, legislative council members, officials of various departments and some activists who are working to solve wildlife-human conflict has been formed and added that the work of finding a scientific solution to the wildlife-human conflict is in progress.
Karnataka is one of the states where wildlife-human conflict is the most prevalent, especially in the Virajpet area of Kodagu district, a lot of loss of life, disability, crop damage has occurred and farmers and laborers are facing problems in one or the other way and they are struggling to lead a normal life with a constant fear of elephants. Chief Minister’s Legal Adviser and MLA of Virajpet Constituency A.S. Ponnanna has convinced the government about this, he added.
Speaking further Sanket Poovayya said that A.S. Ponnanna personally brought Forest Minister to the district and visited the houses where the casualties occurred and to the properties of farmers’ lands where the damages occurred and conveyed the severity of the problem to the minister.
He also informed that in the background of the World Elephant Day celebration, Karnataka Government, Forest Department, in a seminar held to find a scientific solution to the elephant-human conflict, MLA A.S. Ponnanna took a special interest and took the first step to eliminate the technical problems and added that in the meeting Chief Ministers of five states and experts from abroad also participated and exchanged their views in the program.
Construction of ditches at the edges of forest cover, construction of solar fence, installation of more railway tracks, compensation of crop damage, modification in laws, disposal of petitions, rehabilitation of wild elephants which were straying into plantations will be given more importance in a scientific plan to attract the attention of the government, he added.
He further said that a concerted effort will be made to find a permanent solution to the wild animals-human conflict within a period of three years.
