Karnataka government forms team to study human-elephant conflict in Hassan, Kodagu

The team to visit Hassan and Kodagu for three days from Monday

The State Government has constituted a study team under the leadership of Raj Kishore Singh, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, to study the man-elephant conflict in Hassan and Kodagu districts and submit a report with recommendations on how to tackle it. The committee will be visiting the problematic areas for three days from Monday.

Members of the study team are Rangarao G.V., APCCF, Prof.Nishanth from IISC, representatives of Nature Conservation Foundation, Wild Trust of India and Conservator of Forests of Kodagu and Hassan Circles. Saswathi Mishra, APCCF (Elephant Project) will be the coordinator of the team. The order issued by the Department of Forest, Ecology and Environment, has asked the committee to submit the report within a week.

The team will visit Belagodu, Nagavara, and Changadihalli in Hassan district and interact with officers and the public on Monday. The team will visit Kodagu the next day and visit Dubare, Siddapura, Attur, and other areas in the district. On the last day, the committee will visit places of elephant corridor in Virajpet and Nagarhole, before returning to Bengaluru.

The governmentconstituted the team after the protest by elected representatives and growers of Sakaleshpur on November 1, following the death of a farmer in an elephant attack at Hebbanahalli in Sakaleshpur taluk. The protesters continued dharna till late in the night, keeping the deadbody of the farmer. They demanded a permanent solution to the man-elephant conflict, citing that more than 75 people had died in the last 10 years.

Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai spoke to the protesters over the phone during the protest and assured them that he would send a team of officers immediately to study the situation. The protesters withdrew the protest only after the government gave that assurance. Excise Minister K.Gopalaiah, also minister in charge of the district, met the protesters late at night on the day.