Panel to mitigate man-animal conflict in Telangana

HYDERABAD: The Telangana government has constituted a State-level committee, headed by Forest and Environment Minister A Indrakaran Reddy, to mitigate the human-wildlife conflict (HWC), which has resurfaced in the State after nearly three decades. 

Rajya Sabha member KR Suresh Reddy and other officials will be the members of the committee, which has been formed after several alarming incidents recently, including one wherein a tiger mauled two tribal youths in Asifabad district in November 2020.

The committee will propose measures to avoid the recurrence of such incidents, evolve a mechanism to mitigate HWC and review and propose revisions, if any, to the existing compensation package. It will also propose guidelines for settling the claims in case of human death, human injury, cattle kills and crop damage. 

The committee will submit its report as expeditiously as possible, but not later than three months, according to the orders issued on Tuesday by Special Chief Secretary (Forest) A Santhi Kumari. The other members of the committee include the Special Chief Secretary (Forest), former MLA Aravind Reddy, WWF India’s Hyderabad chairman Epur Anil, HyTiCoS secretary Imran Siddiqui, retired veterinary director Dr Naveen Kumar, SBWL member Rajeev Mathew and a representative from the National Tiger Conservation Authority’s (NTCA) regional office. The Principal Chief Conservator of Forests will be the member-convenor of the committee.

Past incidents

July, 2017: A leopard climbed up an electric pole and got electrocuted on the outskirts of Nizamabad Feb,

2018: In a hit-and-run incident, a six-year-old leopard was killed near Jaggarao village under the Navipet police station limits

Nov 11, 2020: Siddam Vigneshwar, 22, was killed by a tiger in Deegida village in Kumarambheem-Asifabad district

Nov 29, 2020: A tiger killed Pasula Nirmala, 15, at Kondapelli village in Penchikalpet mandal of Kumarambheem-Asifabad district

Duties of committee

The newly formed committee will propose measures to avoid the recurrence of such incidents, evolve a mechanism to mitigate human-wildlife conflict and review and propose revisions, if any, to the existing compensation package.