Friday, 28 MARCH 2025 | PNS | DEHRADUN
Bharatiya Janata Party State president and Rajya Sabha member Mahendra Bhatt raised the issue of human-wildlife conflict in Uttarakhand, highlighting the loss of human lives due to wild animal attacks. He urged the Central government to amend regulations for the timely elimination of man-eating animals. Speaking under supplementary question number five, Bhatt drew attention to the problem faced by the people of Uttarakhand. He stated that in the past three years, 161 people have lost their lives in such incidents. Among them, 66 deaths were caused by leopards, 28 by elephants, 13 by tigers, five by bears and 14 by snakes. He said that procedural delays in obtaining permissions to eliminate man-eating animals often create challenges in addressing the issue. He asked whether the government was considering any relaxation in the regulations related to this matter.
Responding to Bhatt’s concerns, Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Bhupender Yadav stated that under the Wildlife Protection Act, species listed under Schedule I can only be dealt with by authorised wildlife officials. For wildlife in lower categories, the officials can delegate authority further. Citing Kerala as an example, he mentioned that in some cases, local Panchayats have been given certain powers to handle such situations. He also said that increasing human population pressure contributes to the frequency of such conflicts. The minister further informed the house that discussions on this issue had recently taken place in Uttarakhand and the government is considering increasing the number of rescue centres to address the problem.
