Govt taken jumbo menace seriously, says CM Bommai

Hassan (Halebeedu), Nov. 23:
The state government has taken the elephant menace seriously and has constituted the Elephant Task Forces to deal with the wild elephants, said Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai.

Speaking to reporters at Halebeedu Helipad here on Wednesday, he said the elephants which had come here following drought for many years have not returned. Other reasons for the jumbo attack are human beings entering forests for some reasons and the climate change.

It will be very difficult to disperse the herd of elephants. Since it is not correct to launch an operation after any single incident, the task force has been constituted to launch the operation regularly. Each task force is provided with training, vehicles, equipment and also established the control room. The job of the special force members is to patrol the elephant-infested areas regularly and push back them into forests.

In case the wild elephants are more in number, then members of all the forces must join together and send back the jumbos into forests. The task force has been given directions to launch this operation for at least ten days. A sum of Rs 100 crore has been earmarked in this year’s budget for this purpose. A new kind of fence is being put up in Bandipur National park. The Elephant Corridor will be fully protected.

Serious thinking on govt jobs for victims’ families

Bommai said a solatium of Rs 15 lakh is given to those killed in wild elephant attack and giving a job to a member of the deceased family will be seriously considered.

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