New Delhi/T’puram: Forest minister Shibu Baby John said on Wednesday that Centre rejected Kerala ’s request to declare wild boar as vermin after he met Union minister for environment and climate change Bhupender Yadav in New Delhi.Addressing a news conference, John said he submitted a 12-point memorandum highlighting Kerala ’s concerns over the escalating human-wildlife conflict in forest fringes and sought Centre’s intervention to ensure the safety of people living in the affected regions.“We showed him maps indicating areas where the wild boar menace has spread beyond forest limits. However, he said we are still killing wild boars,” John said.According to John, “Yadav said wild boar cannot be declared vermin. It will continue under Schedule II of the Wildlife (Protection) Act,” John said.The requests in the memorandum include aerial translocation of conflict animals under Schedule I to interior forests by the Indian Air Force.It also requests increasing central financial assistance to implement various projects to mitigate human-wildlife conflict, a new centrally sponsored scheme for payment of ex gratia or compensation to victims of human-wildlife conflict, and liberalising conditions relating to the exclusion of Pamba Valley from Periyar Tiger Reserve and Angel Valley from Thattekkadu Bird Sanctuary.He also asked for a special financial package for voluntary relocation of tribal settlements and other human habitations from high-conflict and disaster-prone landscapes.
