Tuesday, 27 February 2024 | PNS | DEHRADUN
A day after a child was killed by a leopard in suburban Dehradun, chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami summoned officials of the Forest department on Monday and directed them to take effective action to check human-wildlife conflict. He has also ordered a stay on foreign tours by the department’s officials. Seeking information about the human-wildlife conflict in Dehradun, the CM directed the chief wildlife warden Samir Sinha to take necessary action. Later in the day, the chief wildlife warden issued an order permitting the killing of the leopard as a last resort if attempts to cage and tranquilise it are unsuccessful.
It will be recalled that there have been at least three incidents of leopards attacking people in different parts of Dehradun in recent months. On Sunday evening, a 10-year old boy was killed by a leopard in the Galjwadi area of Malsi range in Dehradun forest division. Summoning department officials to his office in the Vidhan Sabha, Dhami pulled up the officials citing the rising incidents of human-wildlife conflict. Principal secretary RK Sudhanshu, principal chief conservator of forests Anup Malik and Sinha informed Dhami about the latest incident. The CM directed Sudhanshu to monitor the cases daily while Sinha was ordered to visit the field. Stressing that there should not be human fatalities under any circumstances, Dhami directed officials to take necessary steps to prevent the same. Along with raising public awareness, the department should remain alert. Amidst rising human-wildlife conflict cases, the CM also ordered a stay on foreign tours by department officials.
Meanwhile, Sinha issued an order later in the day approving the killing of the leopard as a last resort if attempts to tranquilise and capture the big cat are unsuccessful. The decision has been taken to protect people, especially children from the leopard.
