With man-animal conflict taking place at regular intervals, the Uttarakhand government has decided to increase compensation amount provided to families of those killed in wild animal attacks. The decision was taken in the meeting of Uttarakhand State Wildlife Board, held under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat, in Dehradun on Friday.

Compensation amount has been increased from Rs. 3 lakh to Rs. 5 lakh if killed by wild animals, whereas for seriously injured, the compensation amount has been increased from Rs 50,000 to Rs. 2 lakh. Annually large numbers of people get killed by wild animals and score of other get injured. Man-animal conflict turns grave in winters and the highest number of these incidents involves leopards attacking humans.

Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Rawat said, “The participation of locals should be ensured in the management of forests. The support of villagers is essential for conservation of forests. Work on concept of green tourism should be done, so that forests are conserved and local villagers also gets livelihood.”

The wildlife board also provided permission for starting elephant Safari in the buffer zone of the Corbett and Ramnagar forest division. It was also decided that cent percent revenue from the tourism in Rajaji Tiger Reserve will be deposited in the fund of Rajaji Tiger Reserve Conservation Foundation. Some part of this will be used for community activities.

The state wildlife board also decided not to grant permit for angling in the buffer zone in reserve forest and tiger reserve. The Chief Minister instructed that information about the mountain climbing teams, which are given permission by the forest department, should also be given to the local police as well. So that in case of any emergency, the trapped climbers can be rescued.

Forest Minister Dr. Harak Singh Rawat stressed the need for early completion of necessary formalities on the Kandi road and said, “This is a very important route for connectivity of Garhwal with Kumaon- which will reduce the travel time by approximately 3 hours.”