Government of Maharashtra paid a staggering compensation of Rs 441.16 crore for cattle death and loss of crops that happened due to man-animal conflict in last 10 years, revealed a data provided by the Forest Department in reply to a Right To Information application. As per the data, 3,600 cattle were killed in man-animal conflict since 2015 and the Forest Department registered 6,00,307 complaints of crop loss due to such encounters in last ten years. In the year 2023-24, State witnessed the highest 2.11 lakh cases of crop loss due to man-animal conflict with highest compensation of Rs 148.21 crore. Total 7,114 cattle were killed in such wildlife attacks in the State, which was also the highest in last 20 years, claimed the data. Last year, 4,609 cattle were killed and 96,479 cases of crop loss took place due to man-animal conflict in the State. For all these losses, the Government paid Rs 82.88 crore of compensation to victims.

 

 

As per the latest census, the tiger population in Maharashtra has increased by 444 and the State has the fourth highest tiger population all over the country. Increased number of tigers in the State also raised the incidents of man-animal conflict mainly in Vidarbha region. Chandrapur, Brahmapuri and Nagpur districts were the most affected regions in the State as 90% cases of man-animal conflicts were recorded in these regions. The man-animal encounters mainly began from Chandrapur and Brahmapuri districts when tigers and leopards started venturing near human settlements and started attacking people and their cattle. The Forest Department came up with a solution to shift the problem tigers to other tiger reserves where the tiger density was low. Last year, the Forest Department shifted three problem tigers from Brahmapuri to Navegaon-Nagzira Tiger Reserve (NNTR) in Gondia. Nagpur district is also now becoming a hotbed for such encounters as more than 15 persons were killed in man-animal conflict in last 2 years in various forest ranges in the district. With increased cases of man-animal conflict in the State, the public money also goes down the drain, which needs to be addressed.