Ooty: This day last year sent shock-waves not only across the hills here, but also across the state as the man-animal conflict took different dimensions when a sloth bear which strayed into the Thothamukkai Badaga hamlet near Kotagiri killed a farm couple and injured a youth who fought the killer-bear in an attempt to save the lives of the couple.
The Nilgiris tribal solidarity (TNTS) and Badaga villagers here on Wednesday observed the first death anniversary of tragic death of the Badaga couple. The TNTS and the villagers, who organised a ‘puja’ at the grave of the deceased couple, M. Halan and his wife Mathi Halan, indeed made a clarion call for meaningful compensation and job for the orphaned children and gallantry award for Mr Kumar, the youth who fought the bear. Through the solemn occasion, they also signaled to the government to open the avenues for more compensation and rehabilitation of victims of man-animal conflicts.
Prof T.M. Kullan, president of the TNTS, while speaking on the occasion at the grave, said that compensation of mere '3 lakh for the family of those who died in the man-animal conflict and '50, 000 for injured victims was insufficient in today’s context, as this amount is negligible one, in case when the bread-winner of the family loses life.
“In this case, it was the sloth bear, which entered a residential area and killed them. For no fault of theirs, the couple lost their lives and their four children were forced to become orphans. In total the Forest department gave them Rs 6 lakh and closed the case. We had been demanding Rs 10 lakh compensation in the case of death and upto Rs 3 lakh for the injured in man-animal conflicts. The centre, which is responsible for implementing Wildlife Protection Act, should chip into to make the compensation meaningful,” he added.
H. Dinakaran, son of Mr Halan who was killed by bear last year, said that the district administration promised a government job for one in the family, but till date nothing tangible has been done.
