Wayanad, Feb. 9 -- Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Sunday vowed to pressure both the central and state governments to increase funding for mitigating human-animal conflict in this hill constituency while also raising Corporate Social Responsibility funds for the cause.
Addressing the party's booth-level leaders in the Thiruvambadi Assembly constituency, the Wayanad MP said that she will try her best to minimise the instances of human-animal conflict.
She said that while holding a discussion with the authorities including the District Magistrate and forest officials following the death of a woman due to the attack of a tiger in Mananthavady, they cited the issue of shortage of funds.
"I told them I will pressurise both the Centre and state governments to increase the funding to mitigate the problem and at the same time we will raise the CSR funds wherever we can help with it," Priyanka added.
She stated that since January four deaths have occurred in Wayanad due to wild animal attacks.
On the second day of her three-day visit to Wayanad, Priyanka addressed the issue of human-animal conflicts in her first meeting at Eranad Assembly constituency, stating that she would write to both the central and state governments asking to allocate more funds, as adequate funding is essential for effective protection measures.
Later, speaking to reporters after the meeting on the human-animal conflict issue, she said she has already raised it once and will continue to raise it.
"It's something we need to look into, it's a complex issue as there is no easy solution. Definitely, I will put as much pressure and raise as much as I can," she added.
Priyanka stated that there is difficulty in securing funds from both the Centre and the state government.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.