Human-Animal conflict: Rahul Gandhi reviews situation in Wayanad

Wayanad, Kerala: A day after Wayanad witnessed violent protests over the deaths of three people in wild animal attacks, senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Sunday took stock of the situation with the district officials and sought to hand over the assured compensation to the victims without much delay.

Rahul Gandhi represents Wayanad in Lok Sabha.

He arrived in the constituency after abruptly halting his Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra in Varanasi following intense protests by locals seeking permanent solution to the human-animal conflicts.

Gandhi pointed to the lack of facilities at Wayanad medical college and said it was a critical matter.

Addressing reporters after the assessment meeting with district officials in Kalpetta, the parliamentarian said he was not intending to digress from the main issue of human-animal conflict by getting into politics.

Earlier in the day, he met the grieving families of Aji, Paul and Prajeesh who were killed in three different incidents of wild animal attacks in a span of two months.

Divulging the details of the meeting, Gandhi said he has asked the district administration to disburse the various compensations announced for the deaths or the injured immediately.

"Medical college is a critical issue. I mentioned to the administration today that I don't understand why it is taking so long to develop and build a medical college here. It is not such a complicated thing to do. It is a tragedy that even after people are losing their lives or are getting injured, they are not having a proper medical college here," he said.

The Wayanad MP added that he has written to the Chief Minister and would request him again to take steps to improve the facilities at the medical college.

"It's important that the government bear the cost of treatment of the people who have been injured in the latest spate of attacks," he suggested.

The Congress leader stressed on the importance of disbursing the compensations in a timely manner.

"When a family loses a member, especially a poor family, it's not good enough to give them the compensation after a long time. The compensation needs to come immediately as they need the money immediately," Gandhi said.

The senior politician also said he would like to apprise the CM directly of what the people of his constituency were going through.

Gandhi spent over 20 minutes at the house of Aji (42), who was trampled to death by a radio-collared elephant in the Mananthavady area of Wayanad district triggering massive protests last week.

Later, he visited the residence of Paul, an eco-tourism guide of the forest department who was killed by a wild tusker near Kuruva island on Friday and spent some time there.

The MP also visited the house of Prajeesh who was killed in a tiger attack recently.

Attacks on livestock and humans are frequently being reported from Wayanad of late.

A hartal called by various political parties in protest against the increasing wild animal attacks in the region turned violent in Pulpally town on Saturday with the agitators damaging a forest department vehicle.