Telangana govt's panel on human-animal conflict meets for first time   

HYDERABAD: The committee on human-animal conflict constituted by Telangana government met for the first time on Monday and decided to revise the rates for compensation provided to the victims of wildlife attacks.  The rates have not been revised for the past seven years. The committee was formed under the Chairmanship of Environment and Forests Minister, A Indrakaran Reddy. 

A press release from the Forest Department stated that the committee was apprised of the compensation rates in other Southern States and Maharashtra and how these compare to the ones paid in Telangana. The committee members were later requested to go through the comparative rates and propose revised rates, which will be discussed and finalised in the next meeting of the committee. The committee also discussed the guidelines to be framed for paying compensation under different categories of conflict. 

In the meeting, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests R Sobha said that 144 camera traps have been set up and more than 40 animal trackers have been deployed to monitor the movement of the tiger that killed two humans in the Komaram Bheem Asifabad district. These camera traps and trackers have been set up in areas that come under the tiger corridor linking Kawal tiger reserve in Telangana to tiger bearing forests in Maharashtra, said Sobha.