The final list of hotspots submitted by the State government to the Centre with details of villages facing wild boar threat has stirred up a fresh protest by upland farmers in Kozhikode.
According to farmers, the “half-baked” list ignores several problem spots in rural areas, where settler farmers are forced to abandon their land thanks to rising wild animal menace.
Though 33 villages have been included in the hotlist from Kozhikode district, it has hardly considered villages like Thiruvambady and Koodaranhi, where many farmers recently secured permission from the court to put an end to wild boar menace. Villages such as Puthuppady, Kodenchery, Nellippoyil, and Koodathayi also have been excluded from the list for unknown reasons.
Now, farmers’ organisations like Kerala Independent Farmers Association (KIFA), We Farm, Kisan Janata, and Rashtriya Kisan Mahasangh have demanded an investigation against Forest officials who allegedly prepared the list without proper field studies. They alleged that a few officers were taking vengeful action against farmers for the tough stance they had adopted against the department.
Kisan Janata State secretary Johnson Kulathingal said a complete list of hotspots alone would prompt the Union government to declare wild boars as vermin and find a lasting solution to the problem. “Officials should put an end to their hostile stance against farmers. The State government should expose those who submit misleading reports,” he said.
KIFA functionaries said farmers in the excluded villages were worried about the incomplete list. According to them, the partial list indicates that the government is not keen to declare wild boars as vermin. They pointed out that the government had not even considered the rising man-animal conflicts in the excluded villages.
Meanwhile, Forest department sources said the number of hotspots was determined after proper study on the basis of the total agricultural loss, incidents of man-animal conflicts, and reports by various departments. The list submitted to the Centre thus carried the names of 407 eligible villages in Kerala. They also dismissed the claims of various organisations that the list carried incomplete figures.
Meanwhile, Forest department sources said the number of hotspots was determined after proper study on the basis of the total agricultural loss, incidents of man-animal conflicts, and reports by various departments. The list submitted to the Centre thus carried the names of 407 eligible villages in Kerala. They also dismissed the claims of various organisations that the list carried incomplete figures.
