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Nationalist Kisan Sabha (NKS), farmer's organisation of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), an ally of Communist Party of India (Marxist) on Tuesday demanded that the Kerala government should give importance to the problems occurring due to wild animals.
PM Joseph Master, state Chairman of NKS raised the issue publicly even the Kerala Forest Minister AK Saseendran is from the NCP. Master said, "Disturbance created by wild animals is one of the major issues facing by farmers in Kerala. They pose a great threat to human life and agriculture." As per Master, from 2008 to 2021, 1,410 human lives were taken by wild animals. In 2021 alone, 61 people were killed. "There are so many elephants in Kerala that our forest cannot accommodate. There are more than 7,000 elephants in the forests of Kerala. The forests of Kerala have the capacity to accommodate 500 elephants. There are about 180 tigers, and wild boar," he said. Calling the criteria for firing wild animals "not accurate", Master said, "The required orders from the state authorities have not come so far. The number of wild animals should be made by the forest department. The government should give enough importance to that. The government should adopt scientific methods for this." He then demanded the construction of concrete fences. "It should be built at a height of 240 cm. But construction has been hampered by the intervention of officials. The intervention came from the Chief Secretary. The reason is that the cost goes up. Police and forest officials should provide armed protection to the people until concrete fences are erected. People cannot live in peace," Master said. He further informed that they have talked to the Kerala Forest Minister AK Saseendran about this. "He held meetings with NKS at Delhi on this. He said that more orders can be obtained from the Union Government and things can be done. Whether it is our own party or our minister, we will raise our demands," Master informed. (ANI)
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