Nagpur: The man-animal conflict continues to hound Vidarbha. In the 11 months of this year, 60 incidents of tiger attacks have come to light especially in Chandrapur, Gadchiroli and Wardha districts. On the other hand, wild boars have caused massive crop loss. This was informed by State Forest Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar in reply to queries raised by Ramdas Ambatkar, Nago Ganar and Pravin Datke in Legislative Council on Tuesday.
Mungantiwar said that in Chandrapur district, 38 incidents of tiger attacks have occurred from January to November. Gadchiroli district saw 22 tiger attacks in the same period. Similarly, wild boars caused crop damage in 386 farms in Gadchiroli, 8613 farms in Chandrapur district and 1029 farms in Wardha district. The kin of animal attack victims are given Rs 20 lakh as government aid, the Minister informed.
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Notably, Maharashtra witnessed 94 human kills in 11 months of 2022, taking the man-animal conflict to a six-year high. Of the 94 deaths, 90 are from Vidarbha region alone.
This information was provided to a query posed by activist Abhay Kolarkar under Right to Information Act. According to the reply, every month at least 10 persons are losing their lives in man-animal conflict in the State.
The RTI reply further pointed out that in 2016-2017, 53 humans were killed in wild animal attacks, and this year’s figures are a 77% jump. Barring 2018-19, when 36 people died, there has been a consistent rise in conflict deaths. The State Government released over Rs 423 crore towards compensation to the next of kin of the victim, and for those injured in the last six years.
Of the 94 deaths, 70 are victims of tigers and 14 of leopards. The information further reveals that of the 84 human kills by tigers and leopards, 45 were in Chandrapur, Gadchiroli (23), Nagpur (8), Nashik (7), and Thane (1) districts. Elephants, which are present in Nagpur and Gadchiroli circles, also claimed two persons. Not only fatal incidents, but the number of cattle kills and crop depredation cases have also gone up. In 2016-17, 5,961 cattle kills were reported whereas in 2021-2022 this has increased to nearly 7,000.
