Forest department to establish command centre in Wayanad

The Forest department will establish a district-level ‘real-time command centre’ in Wayanad to monitor the movement of wild animals entering human habitations and coordinate timely interventions, Forest Minister Shibu Baby John has said.

Speaking at a meeting attended by MLAs from the district and Forest department officials at Sultan Bathery on Friday (September 18), the Minister said the command centre would coordinate the activities of all Forest department divisions in the district.

The command centre would help avert human-wildlife conflict by enabling the authorities to monitor the movement of wild animals entering human habitations in real time, Mr. John said.

The Minister also said the government was actively considering a proposal to provide pensions to families of persons killed in wild animal attacks and to those who suffered permanent disabilities in such attacks.