A 30-year-old man identified as Kartik of MM Street, Kodaikanal, was gored to death by an Indian Guar on Friday.
The victim, a mechanic, was walking home around noon, when he was attacked by the animal. He died on the spot. Locals said the threat from the wild animals here has been increasing.
A fortnight ago, a milch animal was killed in a similar fashion. Complaints were lodged with the Forest Department officials to take concrete steps, but nothing has happened, the villagers complained.
In this backdrop, accusing the forest officials of negligence, the members of Bharatiya Kisan Sangh here demanded registration of cases against them. “The district is represented by Dindigul C.Srinivasan who is the Minister for Forests,” it said in a memorandum to the District Collector.
At a time, when people remained indoors due to the COVID-19 lockdown, the destruction of crops by the wild animals was on the rise. “Neither are we given compensation, nor are any measures taken to prevent the conflict between man and animals in this region,” said a farmer Boopathi from Adalur village.
The Dindigul Forest Range is one of the biggest ranges in south Tamil Nadu and has as many as four IFS officers. Instead of examining the modalities to keep the wild animals deep inside the forests with the aid of technology, the officials blamed the farmers all the time, he said.
The locals say the forest officials harass the villagers whenever there was a death of an animal. “It is the local forest officials who let poachers inside the reserve forests but the locals are blamed and humiliated,” Antony of Vilpatti near Kodaikanal said.
To prevent trespass in habitations, eco-watchers have been appointed but they were ineffective, the Sangh claimed and demanded they be stopped the way Friends of Police (FoP) was rescinded in Tamil Nadu.
Considering the plight of the farmers and villagers, Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami should immediately act upon their demands and give compensation for the losses, the Sangh office-bearers said in the memorandum.
A majority of the farmers here raised horticulture crops and most of them had suffered losses due to the destruction of animals into their farms, they claimed.
