The government has plans to deploy kumki elephants to prevent wild elephants from raiding crops and human settlements, Forest Minister K. Raju told the Assembly on Thursday.
Replying to a submission moved by Shafi Parambil on the wild elephant menace in Palakkad, he said three captive elephants from Kerala were being trained as kumki elephants at Muthalamala in Tamil Nadu.
The Minister said the trained kumki elephants would help to reduce the man-animal conflict by helping to capture wild elephants or drive them back into the forest. “By deploying kumki elephants, we hope to resolve the wild elephant menace once and for all.”
Mr. Raju told the House that efforts were on to radio collar the wild tusker that had become a menace in Palakkad and monitor its movements. He said the government would convene a meeting of elected representatives, forest officials and local people to resolve the man-animal conflict in the areas bordering forests.
Mental health screening
Health Minister K.K. Shailaja informed the House that moves were on to screen the entire population of the State for mental health problems. Aswas clinics would be set up at 170 family health centres at the primary level and staff were being trained to offer counselling and treatment for patients, she said while replying to a calling attention motion moved by K.S. Sabarinathan.
The Minister said patients identified with mental health problems would be classified as mild, moderate or severe and referred to hospitals for psychological first aid, counselling or treatment. Simultaneously, efforts were on to strengthen the district mental health programme for treatment, support and rehabilitation of mental health patients.
The mental health centres in Thiruvananthapuram, Thrissur and Kozhikode would be revamped and equipped with modern amenities and a toll free number had been introduced to offer counselling for mentally disturbed persons, including those with suicidal tendencies, she added.