Following his meeting with the relatives of the Forest Department watcher fatally trampled by wild elephants in Wayanad, Rahul Gandhi expressed his concern over the delayed construction of a medical college in the region in a letter to the state’s Chief Minister. He questioned the prolonged timeline for this project and urged for the swift provision of compensation to the victim’s family.
Compensation to the deceased’s family members should be given quickly and without any delay, said Rahul Gandhi while addressing a press conference.
“We’ve been facing these tragedies that are coming out of man-animal conflict for some time.
And in the last few days, there have been a larger number of them. We’ve told the administration that they need to pay the compensation quickly and effectively and not delay the compensation that has been happening over the last couple of months,” Rahul Gandhi said, adding “We also suggested to look into setting up and testing an early warning system.
There’s a question of interstate cooperation between Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. We mentioned to them that we will also play a role in trying to improve the coordination. But it’s important that the three states coordinate with each other as far as this issue is concerned,” he said.
Kerala LoP Satheesan criticizes Govt’s wildlife response
Thrissur: Kerala’s Opposition Leader VD Satheesan criticized the state government on Sunday, accusing them of neglecting the issue of human-wildlife conflict following two fatalities in Wayanad district within a week. “Human-animal conflict is increasing in Kerala. Across the forest border, the human-animal conflict is increasing.
Every day wild animals come to the inhabited areas, attacking the people and destroying the crops,” Satheesan told reporters here. “But unfortunately, our government is not taking this matter very seriously. Even the forest minister has not gone to the place. They have not visited the victims so far,” he added.
A group of people under the aegis of an all-party action council staged a protest at Pulpally in Wayanad on Saturday after an employee of the Kuruva Dweep eco-tourism centre of the Forest department was killed in an elephant attack.
