Dehradun, Dec. 12 -- Chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami on Thursday directed the forest department and district administrations in areas prone to human-wildlife conflict across the state to recruit attendants to accompany children to and fro from school. "We cannot allow children to risk their lives just to reach school," he said. The directive was made during a review meeting held at the Secretariat. Dhami expressed his dissatisfaction with the department's emergency and threat response mechanisms in certain districts, and ordered the dismissal of the Pauri Garhwal divisional forest officer (DFO) Abhimanyu Singh. The chief minister instructed further that teams from the department must reach the site of any animal attack within 30 minutes of receiving the information. The concerned DFO and ranger would be held accountable for any delays or negliegence. The chief minister also instructed the department to draft a comprehensive policy to provide adequate compensation to families who lost their primary breadwinner to an animal attack within two weeks. Dhami also called for the deployment of modern technology, including surveillance cameras and monitoring systems, in sensitive zones. The chief minister also ordered that dense and wild bushes around rural settlements be cleared to reduce hiding spots for wild animals. All equipment necessary must be supplied to district-level teams without delay, he added. He also instructed forest personnel to maintain regular communication with villagers, particularly women and children, and ensure they are informed about wildlife movement or potential danger in nearby areas. The review meeting was attended by forest minister Subodh Uniyal, principal secretary RK Sudhanshu, secretaries Shailesh Bagauli, Vinay Shankar Pandey and C. Ravishankar, principal chief conservator of forests Ranjan Mishra, and additional secretary Himanshu Khurana....