Farmers from various parts of Coimbatore on Tuesday raised concern over the damage caused by wild animals to their crops, properties and lives.
The Coimbatore Forest Division arranged the grievances redress meeting , which was attended by District Forest Officer N. Jayaraj, Personal Assistant to collector (Agriculture) Mallika, Assistant Conservator of Forests Vijay Kumar and range officers of all the seven forest ranges in the division.
In a dramatic turn of events, a farmer, whose crops had been damaged by wild animals, attempted to touch the feet of officials, seeking protection for crops and properties.
A large number of farmers stated that the compensation awarded by Forest Department for crop damage were inadequate. Due to crop damage, farmers were not able to repay their loans, they said.
M. Mahalakshmi from Kalaiyanur wanted the Department to introduce smart technologies to monitor elephants and stop them from entering farms.
A retired teacher and farmer, P.R. Palanisamy, asked why the Department was not releasing a list of the people who died in elephant attacks, while it comes out with meticulous reports on elephant census.
General Secretary of Tamilaga Vivasayigal Sangam (non-political) P. Kandasamy wanted the Department to conduct grievances redress meeting on human-animal conflict every month.
Mr. Jayaraj said that the Coimbatore division was expecting ₹ 1.6 crore from the State government to settle compensations of farmers.
