Uttarakhand government will provide escort facilities to school-going children to protect them from wild animals’ attacks in the hill areas. An instruction to this effect has been passed by Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami in view of rising man-animal conflicts in the hill areas of the state.
Speaking to the Forest Department officials on Thursday, Dhami ordered adequate arrangements to be made jointly by the district administration and Forest Department to provide escorts to the school-going children as the cases of man-animal conflicts, mainly leopard attacks, have increased in the recent past. “In areas with greater fear of wild animal attacks, the department and district administration should arrange for an escort facility to drop and pick schoolchildren from their homes to schools,” he said Dhami to the officials.
The Direction from the chief minister came in the review of a meeting called in response to rising man-animal conflicts in Pauri Garhwal hill region of the state. He instructed the officials to take adequate and effective measures to eliminate man-wildlife conflict in the state. “It must be ensured that Forest Department teams reached the locations within 30 minutes of receiving information about animal attacks. The responsibility for this must be fixed on concerned Divisional Forest Officers (DFOs) and Range officers. Apart from this, financial assistance should be provided to the affected people immediately.”
After the recent rise in leopard and bear attacks leading to loss of 3-4 lives in Pauri, the chief minister directed Forest authorities for immediate removal of the DFO from his divisions.
Dhami asked the Forest department to prepare and submit an action plan within two weeks to provide assistance for the livelihood of the family of a man-animal conflict deceased who was the lone bread winner for his or her dependents. He said necessary equipment required to mitigate man-animal conflicts in the state must be made available as soon as possible.
“Our primary responsibility is to save people’s lives from wildlife and special attention must be paid to the use of new technology. Attention must be given to sustainable solutions to prevent wild animals from entering human habitats. Continuous monitoring should be maintained through cameras in areas sensitive to wildlife. Forest personnel should maintain constant vigilance and also strengthen their communication with villagers. A campaign should be launched to clear wild bushes around settlements, and children and women, in particular, should be made aware of the presence of wild animals nearby” said the chief minister.