BENGALURU: During the meeting of southern states ministers and forest department officials held on Monday in Bengaluru it was decided that while Karnataka will prepare a memorandum and a charter of the problems to mitigate conflict, Kerala forest minister will lead the delegation to the union government seeking funds and assistance.
The interaction of ministers of southern states was held as a part of the International Conference on Human- Elephant Conflict Management 2024, as a part of World Elephant Day.
Kerala Forest Minister AK Saseendran said: “I will get an appointment with the central government and we will take a memorandum to them asking for release of funds for conflict mitigation.”
Seconding his opinion, Karnataka forest, Environment and Ecology Department Minister Eshwar B Khandre, said CAMPA funds belong to the states, but the centre is not releasing it. The central government should also give financial assistance for farmers crop loss. CAMPA funds are needed for creating rail barricades.
At the meeting chaired by ministers and officials from Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Jharkhand and Karnataka, it was decided to prepare a charter for all the southern states to follow, similar to the Bandipur Charter which was signed by ministers of Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu.
Khandre also highlighted the need for all southern states to work together and create a charter for all to follow. He highlighted the need for sharing data on elephant movement and tracking. Heads of herds and mischievous elephants should be radio collared, the cost and data be shared with all states to track elephants.
The charter also included that in order to ensure compensation is at par, Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bhima Yojana is available for crop losses caused by elephants and other wild animals, the Government of India may be requested to contribute the central share in premium of the portion of crop insurance covering damage by wild animals.
The ministers in the meeting also agreed to include in the charter and suggest to the ministry to amend the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, where it needs to shift from tiger centric and focus on project elephant areas. All the ministers unanimously agreed that managing weeds is a problem and that it is a prime cause for conflict. Funding for clearing them should be from the state and the centre.