HD Devegowda draws attention to human-elephant conflicts

New Delhi, Mar 9 (PTI) JD (S) leader and former prime minister HD Devegowda on Monday raised concern over human-elephant conflicts in Karnataka, as the Rajya Sabha discussed the working of the Ministry of Environment and Forest.

Participating in the discussion, Devegowda said forests are getting submerged under flood water, pushing the human-animal conflict further.

"In my home state, every day, the rogue elephants are moving, searching for food, and they are destroying the crops," Devegowda said.

"And not only that, they are going to kill the people who are working in the field," he said.

"Please ensure that we do our best to find a solution for the farmers who are dying daily due to rogue elephants. On the other side, the elephants are searching for food because irrigation dams will merge the forest area," he noted.

Ravi Chandra Vaddiraju of YSRCP raised the issue of human-monkey conflicts.

"Today, we are facing a strange and terrifying problem in Telangana: the monkey menace. Monkeys are descending upon villages and raiding agricultural fields, causing losses to the farming community in our state," he added.

"Monkeys are intruding into homes and attacking toddlers and infants. Children are suffering grievous injuries due to the monkey bites," Vaddiraju said.

He said the central government must recognise this as a critical human-wildlife conflict. PTI AO BAL BAL BAL