Odisha Mulls Compassionate Payment For Wild Animal Attack In 15 Days

Bhubaneswar: To bring down the incidents of man-animal conflict and win the trust of the people, the Odisha government has decided to amend the Wildlife (Protection) (Orissa Rules), 1974, to revise the mode and time of compassionate payment to the family for wild animal attack resulting in the death or injury of their kin.

“Henceforth, there will no delay in providing compassionate payment to the family in case of the death or injury of their kin in the wild animal attack. It has been decided that compassionate payment would be made on the basis of the report of the local sarpanch the Forest Ranger. If a person dies in the attack by a wild animal, his/her family would be provided Rs 4 lakh as compassionate payment within 15 days instead of 30 days. To implement the new rule, the Forest and Environment department has submitted a draft proposal to the state government for an amendment of the Wildlife (Protection) (Orissa Rules), 1974,” Chief Wildlife Warden, Sandeep Tripathy told mediapersons here.

He also said that in the earlier provision of the Wildlife (Protection) (Orissa Rules), 1974, the compassionate payment was made on the basis of the certificate given by the local tehsildar and the report of the officer-in-charge (OIC) of the police station. “Now, it has been decided that the compassionate payment would be made on the basis of the certificate by the local sarpanch the report of the Forest Range officer. We are hopeful that the state government will accept our proposal and amend the said rules accordingly,” he added.