BENGALURU: During a Question Hour discussion on rise in elephant attacks, Mudigere Assembly constituency BJP MLA MP Kumaraswamy urged the state government to kill elephant foetuses to control their population, which led to an embarrassing moment for the members of the Treasury benches.
“We don’t want this menace. Shift elephants from my constituency to other places,” he demanded. He claimed that recently, six people have died to elephant attacks in his constituency, and that properties, crops have been damaged.
“There are too many elephants which has become a nuisance. It looks like that the government and the court want elephants, but people do not want them. The government should take steps to kill elephant foetuses to control their population,” he said.
Fear of elephants is such that farmers have stopped farming on thousands of acres of land, he said, adding, “Wherever I go in my constituency, people ask me when will this menace end.”Minister Shivaram Hebbar replied that elephant foetuses cannot be killed, and the government is against the proposal.
“Compensation for crop loss and deaths have been hiked. We are using technology like radio collar on elephants to track them, and are also working on rail fencing,” he said. However, he said that a particular elephant Mudigere Bhyra, which has become a menace, and a special team has been formed to catch him.
Narrating another episode of elephant woes, Hanur MLA from Chamarajanagar Narendra claimed that there are three rogue elephants in Chamarajanagar, which has become a problem. These elephants are straying into villages, triggering fear and damaging properties and crops. “Why we should suffer,” he asked.
Speaker Vishveshwara Hegde Kageri said that many constituencies face man-animal conflicts. “Monkeys are caught somewhere, and left in Sirsi, my assembly constituency. Government should form an expert committee to find a permanent solution,” he added.