Congress leader and Wayand MP Rahul Gandhi on Sunday morning visited the family members of the three men who were killed in wild animal attacks in Wayanad, and consoled them.

He listened to grievances of the people about the state government’s alleged failure to mitigate human-wildlife conflict.

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Gandhi reached Wayanad via road from Kannur around 7 am. He reached Kannur by air on Saturday night after taking a break from his Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra in Varanasi abruptly in the wake of intense protests by people in Wayanad.

The people have been agitating against the Forest Department’s alleged failure to insulate the local population from wildlife attacks.

First, he reached the house of Ajeesh, a farmer who was trampled to death by the wild elephant Bluer Makhna at Chaligada near Mananthavady last week. He spent around 20 minutes there . Later, Gandhi visited the house of Paul, who was killed by a wild tusker near Kuruva island on Friday, at Pakkam near Pulpally . He met with the next of kin of Paul for some time. He also reached Moodakolly and interacted with the family of Prajeesh, who was mauled to death by a tiger that had intruded into human habitation.

Congress Working Committee member KC Venugopal accompanied Gandhi.

The Wayanad lawmaker also attended an assessment and review meeting with the district officials at the PWD rest house in Kalpetta on Sunday. Speaking to the media, after the review meeting, Gandhi said he had tried to talk to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan this morning about the matter, however, he was not accessible.

He asked the district authorities to expedite the processes to provide compensation to the relatives of the deceased..

“The administration should act aggressively to provide compensation to the families. When a family member who is the breadwinner dies, poor families will be affected seriously . So, the compensation should not be given after months. They should get financial aid immediately,” said Gandhi.

He has also written a letter to the Kerala Chief Minister requesting decisive action over the incident. There are also complaints that Gandhi was not ready to listen to the people who were waiting to raise their concerns.

The Congress leader lambasted the state government for the recurring wild animal attacks in the district. He also asked why there was still a delay in the development of the government Medical College in Mananthavady.

Sona, the daughter of Paul, who was trampled to death by a wild elephant, on Sunday requested Gandhi to work towards installing modern facilities at the government medical college in Mananthavady. On Saturday, Sona has alleged that her father didn’t get proper treatment at Mananthavady government medical college hospital and that there was delay in taking him to the Kozhikode medical college hospital

Many areas in Wayanad witnessed intense protests by locals seeking solutions to the human-animal conflicts in the district. In Pulpally town, an irate mob threw stones at the police. The crowd waylaid a jeep of the forest department and damaged it. MLAs I C Balakrishnan and T Siddique , who were present at the protest site, too faced the wrath of protesters, with water bottles and chairs being thrown at them.

While protesters agitated with Paul’s mortal remains at one corner of Pulpally, another group protested with the remains of a cow killed by a wild animal.

Paul’s body was taken home only after the intervention of some priests and leaders of political parties