T’puram: State human rights commission (SHRC) directed authorities to expedite the issuance of a legal heir certificate to enable disbursal of the remaining compensation to the family of a mahout who was trampled to death by an elephant at Kottoor Elephant Rehabilitation Centre.Commission chairperson Justice Alexander Thomas ordered the district collector and Neyyattinkara tahsildar to urgently issue the certificate so that the pending Rs 13 lakh out of the total Rs 18.5 lakh compensation can be released to the family of V Vishnu (27). SHRC took suo motu cognisance of the incident based on media reports. It earlier, on Feb 7, directed forest conservator of Agasthyavanam Biological Park to take immediate steps to provide compensation to Vishnu’s family, who depended on his daily wages. According to the report submitted, Vishnu has been working as a daily-wage mahout at Kottoor centre since 2018 and was the primary handler of an elephant named Manu. Immediate financial assistance of Rs 50,000 was already provided to the family. Additionally, Rs 3 lakh will be disbursed from the elephant’s insurance coverage, and Rs 5 lakh from the insurance scheme for temporary forest department employees. The govt has also sanctioned Rs 10 lakh as compensation for deaths caused by wildlife attacks. Of this, Rs 5 lakh has already been processed for Vishnu’s father, P Bijukumar. The remaining amount will be released once the legal heir certificate and other required documents are submitted. The incident occurred on Feb 5, when Vishnu was bathing elephants at Neyyar reservoir. The nine-year-old elephant Manu reportedly became agitated and attacked him with its trunk and pushed him underwater.
