A collective of 15 farmer organisations under the aegis of the Karshika Purogamana Samiti (KPS) staged a fast at Sulthan Bathery on Thursday, raising a slew of demands including effective steps to tackle the increasing wildlife attacks in the district.
Speaking after inaugurating the protest, Remigiose Inchananiyil, Bishop of the Syro-Malabar Diocese of Thamarassery, said that wildlife attacks had increased considerably in the State over the past decade, especially in hilly areas such as Wayanad, but successive governments had not adopted any steps to address the issue.
Though a tribal youth was mauled to death by a tiger at Pulpally in the district a few days ago, the Forest department officials could not capture the animal, the Bishop said. A collective protest by the farming
community against the escalating wildlife attacks was the need of the hour, he said.
The protesters also raised demands such as capturing the man-eater, adopting scientific steps to divide forest areas and human habitations, amending Forest Acts, erection of hanging fences on the fringes of forests to curb man-animal conflicts, and increasing the compensation for crop losses suffered in wildlife raids.
Dr. Joseph Mar Thomas, Bishop of the Malankara Catholic Diocese of Sulthan Bathery; Jose Porunnedom, Bishop of the Syro-Malabar Diocese of Mananthavady; I.C. Balakrishnan, MLA; T.L. Sabu, Municipal Chairman of Sulthan Bathery; Dr. P. Lakshmanan, State convenor, Farmers Relief Forum, and P.M .Joy, chairman of KPS, among others, spoke.