UP declares man-animal conflict death state disaster

LUCKNOW: UP has become the first state in the country to declare death through an man-animal conflict a state disaster. If a person dies in an attack by a tiger, leopard, Indian wolf, hyena, crocodile, elephant, rhinoceros and now lion and wild boar as well, the deceased's family will be given a compensation of Rs 5 lakh by the State Disaster Management Authority.
Around 35-50 deaths from attacks by wild animals are reported from across the state each year, coupled with at least 100-150 injuries.

"The governing body of the SDMA made a presentation before the CM two weeks back on this matter and the CM has finally given his assent to the proposal.

Lion has been included in the category of wild animals because the Etawah lion safari is due to become operational in a couple of months. That is the only place in the state that has lions," said relief commissioner Sanjay Kumar.

Earlier, said officials, deaths by wild animals were not considered a disaster even though as per a government order by the forest department, a compensation of Rs 5 lakh was to be given to affected families.

"The problem was that the forest department did not have a sufficient budget and the process of giving compensation was long and cumbersome. Very often, even if an application was processed through a very lengthy system, the department would get funds only at the end of the year," said an official.

Now that such deaths are a state disaster, the onus of providing compensation lies with the collector. The funds can be transferred in 24 hours through netbanking directly into the account of the beneficiary. Help of up to Rs 2 lakh can also be given to those injured in similar attacks.

Kumar added: "In any state or natural disaster, the rule is to provide a compensation of Rs 4 lakh in case of death. Since the forest department is already giving out Rs 5 lakh, we did not want to reduce this sum. Therefore, Rs 5 lakh will be given from the state disaster relief fund to beneficiaries and the forest department will have to recoup Rs 1 lakh per case to the SDRF.