In a bid to reduce man-animal conflicts and to expedite ex gratia process for those killed in wildlife encounters, the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests has revised the ex gratia component for the victims of wildlife encounters.
Chennai:
“As per the recent revision, those killed by wild animals will get a minimum of Rs 5 lakh as compensation and 25 per cent of the amount should reach the deceased family within 24 hours,” said an order copy dispatched to all chief wildlife wardens issued by the deputy inspector general of forests Rakesh Kumar Jagenia. The order also asked the states to fix timelines for completion of the post mortem report, injury report, certificates from the revenue department and the ownership certificates in case of crop damages to farmers caused by wildlife.
The order copy pointed out that some states were giving better compensation than the amount prescribed by the Centre, but the amount should not be lower than what is prescribed by the Union government. The Centre also asked the states to ensure that the revolving funds with the district forest officers are maintained and reviewed so that there is no delay in issuing the compensation. Commenting on ex gratia revision by the Centre, a senior official said the Centre just gives such circulars, but they fail to walk the talk, to get the funds the state IFS officers should frequent Delhi for clearances and funds. The official said that the central funds earmarked for state governments are not released on time. There were cases of project tiger funds being returned to the Centre as it came late and could not be spent within the current fiscal. Every year the overall budget allocations by the Centre and the state governments to the forest department are peanuts when compared to other departments. Funding is an issue for all state forest departments excluding Kerala, Assam and Karnataka that makes good money through wildlife tourism, the official added.
“Tamil Nadu records regular human deaths due to wildlife encounters by elephant, tiger, leopard and Indian gaur and providing adequate compensation will help the bereaving family members,” opined Deepak Nambiar, founder, Elephas Maximus Trust.
The degradation of shola forests and wildlife habitat destruction for human purpose are two major reasons for the increase in wildlife conflicts.