BENGALURU:With the National Board of Wildlife recommending imposition of Section 144 of the CrPc to prevent gathering of crowds during man-animal conflict emergencies, the Centre is expected to send the necessary advisory to all the state governments soon.
Karnataka forest officials, however, say that the state has already a standard operating procedure incorporating this advisory. In a few districts that face conflicts frequently, forest officials say, Section 144 has helped in dealing with volatile situations. But the rule has not been strictly followed in many districts resulting in aggravation of the situation, activists opine.
With the state having a high density of population of tigers, leopards and elephants, incidents involving animals straying into human settlements, lifting of cattle and destruction of crop and property are reported now and then. Further, recent incidents of leopard appearances in villages of Ballari, Tumakuru and Bengaluru Rural districts, elephants venturing into Belagavi or village schools of Siddapura or capture operations in villages bordering Nagarahole, Bandipur or Alur have seen curious, unruly crowds interfering, causing problems to forest officials.
Although Karnataka has been following this rule, its implementation has not been effective, says a senior forest official. “In fact, before the procedure for an elephant capture is taken up, even power supply is switched off. A strict checklist is followed to ensure smooth and systematic operation. However, in some districts, the district authorities and police are reluctant to impose Section 144. During a recent leopard-capture operation in Tumakuru, the police did not want to enforce this as they said this was an opportunity for people to see the animal at such close quarters,” the official adds.
Wildlife conservationist D V Girish adds, “In most cases of conflict/treatment, the biggest challenge is crowd control. The staff struggle to deal with wild animals on one hand and an unruly mob on the other, most often trying to settle scores or deliberately making it difficult for the staff to deal with the situation. The noise and indiscipline adds to the confusion of the cornered and stressed-out animal putting it and people at risk. Imposing Section 144 will help in dealing with the situation in a better way.”
GUIDELINES FOR INTER - DEPT COORDINATION
During emergencies, Commissioner of Police/ Superintendent of Police/district administration will take necessary action to mobilise sufficient police force to control crowd and ensure minimum disturbance for capture operations, cautioning people to stay indoors, not to disturb the animal, impose Section 144, if necessary, declare holiday for schools and switch off power supply to avoid accident/electrocution of the animal.