Funds from the Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board (KIIFB) is to be used for ensuring that wild animals do not stray off the forests and attack those living in forest fringes.
A 220.5-km solar fencing; 1.91-km elephant fence; and 11.35-km rail fencing are to be erected at a cost of ₹25 crore this year in vulnerable areas using KIIFB funds. The State Forest Development Agency has been appointed as the Special Purpose Vehicle to implement the project and tender formalities are on to execute the work, Forest Minister K. Raju said.
An SMS system to alert local populace about the movement of wild animals has been launched in Munnar, Wayanad, and Aralam. More places would be covered in the coming months, he said. As many as 14 Rapid Response Teams have been put in place at Peppara, Punalur, Ranni, Munnar, Peerumedu, Malayatoor, Olavacode, Mannarkkad, Nilambur, Thamarassery, Sulthan Bathery, Taliparamba, Kalpetta, and Kasaragod for quick intervention to save human lives and capture straying animals, he said.
Jan Jagrata Samitis
Jan Jagrata Samitis had been set up in panchayats and municipalities in areas where attacks by wild animals had been reported. Besides elected representatives and local government chiefs, the committees formed in February this year had local residents and forest officials as their members. Animals that normally strayed into human habitations creating conflict situations were wild elephants, tigers, wild boars, monkeys, and deer.
The latest census put the number of wild elephants in the State at 6,177, the Minister said. The State also had 136 tigers, 48,034 wild boars, over 50,000 monkeys, and 43,000 deer. In Vellanad and Amboori panchayats in Thiruvananthapuram, bordering Tamil Nadu, monkey menace was giving sleepless nights to local people.
Under the Kerala Rules for Payment of Compensation to Victims of Attack by Wild Animals, 1980, those who suffered permanent disability or injuries would get a compensation of ₹75,000, those who suffered crop loss and livestock loss ₹75,000 and those belonging to the Scheduled Tribes would get the entire cost of treatment reimbursed based on medical records. In case of death, the compensation was ₹5 lakh and ₹1 lakh was the amount for snakebites outside the forest land. After the present government came to power, ₹161.15 lakh had been given as compensation for those who came under attack by wild animals.
