Minister for Forests B. Ramanath Rai on Monday told the Legislative Assembly a Rs. 109.37-crore comprehensive project has been formulated to check man-animal conflict in various elephant corridors covering 15 districts.
In a reply to A. Ravisubramanaya of the Bharatiya Janata Party during Question Hour, Mr. Rai said the project would be implemented in the next five years in Bangalore Rural, Bangalore Urban, Mandya, Mysore, Kodagu, Chamarajanagar, Chikmagalur, Uttara Kannada, Hassan, Ramanagaram, Tumkur, Shimoga, Dakshina Kannada, Belgaum and Dharwad districts. K.G. Bopaiah of the BJP alleged the government had done nothing to prevent man-elephant conflict in Kodagu district and that only Rs. 30 crore had been allotted in the State Budget for it this year. The government should take steps immediately to tackle man-animal conflict, he said.
H.K. Kumaraswamy of the JD(S) said 43 people were killed in man-animal conflict in Sakleshpur in the last one year. Destruction of crops and delay in payment of compensation to victim’s families were other major problems faced by the village people of Hassan district, he said.
