After Rahul Gandhi visit, Karnataka agrees to pay Rs 15 lakh to Kerala man trampled to death by elephant

On February 17, Rahul broke away from his Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra to visit Ajeesh’s family. “Wayanad MP Rahul Gandhi called up the minister and spoke to him and said that on humanitarian grounds compensation should be paid to the family of the victim since an elephant radio-collared in Karnataka is involved in the incident. He requested payment of compensation on humanitarian grounds. An amount of Rs 15 lakh has been allocated,” officials in the Karnataka Forest Ministry said.

The tuskless male (makhna) elephant, which had been captured in Belur taluk in Karnataka’s Hassan district on November 30 last year, was translocated to Bandipur forest on the Karnataka-Tamil Nadu-Kerala border. Two months later, it was found to have strayed into Kerala’s Wayanad district.

A communique from the office of the Karnataka Forest Minister on Sunday said, “The elected representative of Wayanad Shri Rahul Gandhi requested the Government of Karnataka to be largehearted and pay compensation for that case. The Minister for Forests, Ecology and Environment Sri Eshwar Khandre took up the matter of payment of compensation with the Chief Minister Shri Siddaramaiah on Sunday 18th February 2024… The Chief Minister agreed to pay compensation to the family of Shri Ajeesh at par with any citizen of Karnataka.”

When protests erupted in Wayanad soon after the trampling incident, Khandre had argued that elephants cannot be labelled “Karnataka elephant” or “Kerala elephant” since they are migratory in nature.

Residents of several villages and towns bordering forests in Kerala, especially in Wayanad, have been up in arms over several incidents of wild animal conflicts in recent months with as many as three human deaths reported in the region.

Highlighting the significance of elephant corridors, conservationist Joseph Hoover said, “Now that the makhna has killed Ajeesh, it is obvious that radio-collared elephants are not being tracked regularly. Man-animal conflicts can be mitigated only if forests are protected and fragmented elephant corridors are re-established.”

“Tourism, especially night safaris, should be banned as wildlife species are stressed by the constant movement of vehicles. The acute shortage of water is also bound to escalate human-animal interface during summer months,” he added.