Karnataka high court issues guidelines to foil human-animal conflict

The Karnataka high court on Tuesday (July 11) issued a number of guidelines to end the ongoing human-animal conflict such as setting up grievance cells, establishing elephant corridors and 24/7 control rooms among other suggestions.

These guidelines can also provide support to those in the state affected by this conflict.

Disposing of a petition filed by the Karnataka Growers Federation, Chief Justice Prasanna B Varale and Justice MGS Kamal said the grievance cells must come up in each taluk to receive complaints about wild animals venturing into human habitats.

The court also called for the establishment of elephant corridors for the movement of wild elephants from one part of Karnataka to another without endangering human lives.

The Karnataka government was directed to provide adequate resources including staff, vehicles and infrastructure to the forest department to prevent human-animal conflict.

Also read: Kerala government seeks national consensus on human-animal conflict law

24/7 control rooms

The judges said there should be 24/7 control rooms to send out warning messages in bulk to people in areas where wild animal threats were noticed.

These control rooms should be connected to the nearest health centres and hospitals as well in case people get injured by wildlife.

Senior officials of the forest department were told to meet every quarter to discuss issues related to human-wildlife conflict. The range forest officers and tehsildars were asked to meet every two months.

The court directed the authorities to popularise the grievance cells among the public by issuing public announcements and publishing it on the notice boards of all gram panchayats.

(With agency inputs)