| Staff REPORTER |
Itanagar, Mar 11: Arunachal Pradesh Assembly Speaker Tesam Pongte constituted a one-time evaluation committee to study the growing issue of human-wildlife conflict in the state.
This announcement was made on behalf of the Speaker by MLA Laisam Simai, who was in the Chair, during the House proceedings on Wednesday.
The six-member committee will be headed by Wanglin Lowangdong as chairman with Kumar Waii, Dr Mohesh Chai, Topin Ete, and Tsering Lhamu as members. The Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (PCCF) will serve as the member secretary.
The committee has been directed to submit its report to the Speaker within three months.
The issue of human-wildlife conflict was discussed extensively in the Assembly on the first day of the ongoing five-day Budget session on March 6 after it was raised by MLA Kumar Waii.
During the discussion, Forest Minister Wangki Lowang said incidents of human-wildlife conflict have been increasing due to habitat fragmentation, loss of wildlife corridors, seasonal movement of animals, and climate variability affecting food and water availability in forests.
He informed that the government has adopted a multi-pronged strategy to mitigate conflicts, including strengthening rapid response teams, deployment of veterinary units, installation of camera traps, community-based prevention measures and inter-state coordination for managing migratory wildlife.
Lowang also noted that several conservation initiatives are being implemented under centrally sponsored schemes such as Project Tiger, Project Elephant, Integrated Development of Wildlife Habitats and Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA) for habitat restoration and corridor management.
Emphasising community participation, the minister said awareness programs and involvement of local communities are key to ensuring long-term coexistence between humans and wildlife in the state.
He added that sustained investment in community-based prevention, rapid response capacity, transparent compensation mechanisms and landscape-level planning to secure wildlife corridors would be essential to reduce conflicts in the long run.
While noting that the government has already put in place several measures to address the issue, the minister said there was no immediate need adopt a resolution and suggested that the matter could be examined in detail by a committee of the House.
Intervening in the discussion, Deputy Speaker Kardo Nyigyor, who was presiding over the proceedings, has assured members that a House committee would be constituted to study the issue and submit its report to the Speaker for further discussion in the Assembly.