Communist Party of India (Marxist) State secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan has said that the increased incidents of man-animal conflicts are due to the wild animals leaving the forests and entering human habitations. The Forest Department has the responsibility to keep them inside the forests, he said.
Inaugurating the area committee office of the party at Marayur on Sunday, he criticised the officials for letting wild animals intrude into human-inhabited areas. Such instances could have been prevented to a certain extent had the officials adopted measures to retain them in the forest areas. Mr. Balakrishnan said Idukki and Wayanad districts have borders with forests and instances of wild animals’ transgression into human habitations have increased there in recent times.
Mr. Balakrishnan said the LDF government was pro-farmer and would not do anything to harm their interests. The government would announce major housing schemes for the poor on November 1. Houses would be given to the landless and title deeds to deserving farmers, he said.
ADVERTISEMENT
To a question by mediapersons, Mr. Balakrishnan said that the A.K.G. Centre, the CPI(M) headquarters, was not working as a parallel government. The party and the government were separate entities, he said, adding that the party would not interfere with the government functioning.