Karnataka MLA wants foeticide to curb elephant population

Mudigere BJP MLA M P Kumaraswamy on Thursday asked the government to carry out foeticide to curb elephant population.

He was raising the issue of elephants causing losses to life and property.

"Let's kill the foetuses and stop their population. Because it feels like the government wants people to be ready to die in exchange for compensation," Kumaraswamy said.

Replying on behalf of the government, Labour Minister Shivaram Hebbar said the government will not kill foetuses. “There’s no such proposal before us,” he said.

"The government has already announced that compensation for deaths caused by elephants will be hiked from Rs 7.5 lakh to Rs 15 lakh," Hebbar said.

The minister said a special team has been formed to nab one "troublesome" elephant named as 'Mudigere Bhaira'. “The Forest department has started using radio collars on elephants to track their movement,” he said.

The government has earmarked Rs 100 crore to construct fences on railway crossings to keep elephants away from human habitats in Hassan, Chikmagalur and Kodagu districts, Hebbar pointed out.

Hanur MLA R Narendra said his Chamarajanagar district already has 1,000 elephants. “As if that wasn’t enough, all rescued elephants are being dropped off in our district,” he said.

Speaker Vishweshwar Hegde Kageri quipped that monkeys from all over the state are let into his Sirsi constituency. “Wild animals are causing huge losses to farmers. The government should constitute a high-level committee comprising experts to see what can be done,” he said.