New Delhi, March 9 JD(S) leader and former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda raised concerns about human-elephant conflicts in Karnataka during Monday's Rajya Sabha discussion on the Ministry of Environment and Forest.
Participating in the discussion, Deve Gowda stated that forests are being submerged due to floods, further exacerbating the conflict between humans and animals.
"In my home state, rogue elephants are moving around daily, searching for food, and they are destroying crops," Deve Gowda said.
"And not only that, they are attacking people working in the fields," he added.
"We need to ensure that we do our best to find a solution for farmers who are dying daily due to rogue elephants. On the other hand, elephants are searching for food because irrigation dams are merging the forest area," he noted.
Ravi Chandra Vaddiraju of YSRCP raised the issue of human-monkey conflicts.
"Today, we are facing a strange and terrifying problem in Telangana: the monkey menace. Monkeys are descending upon villages and raiding agricultural fields, causing losses to the farming community in our state," he added.
"Monkeys are intruding into homes and attacking toddlers and infants. Children are suffering grievous injuries due to monkey bites," Vaddiraju said.
He said the central government must recognize this as a critical human-wildlife conflict.