“The Chief Wildlife Warden in the state has got the powers with him and can act according to it when it comes to trapping, catching and killing problematic wild animals. The state government also is aware of it and I ask you to pass this information on to the concerned people,” said Bhupender Yadav.

The union minister has been camping in Wayanad since Wednesday and by now interacted with officials and affected people.

On Thursday, he interacted with Forest officials from Kerala and Karnataka who came online.

Since January 30, Wayanad has seen three deaths of people on account of attack by wild elephants which strayed into human settlement areas, leaving the entire populace in the hilly district up in arms.

Bhupender Yadav further added that the discussions that he had with top forest officials from Karnataka and Kerala centreed around the preparation of a corridor management of wild animals.

With regards to the delay in handing over the compensation to the kith and kin of those killed by wild animals, he said it is the responsibility of the state government as the Centre has transferred the money.

“The Centre pays Rs 10 lakh each to the wildlife victims, and if the state government wishes, it can increase the money,” said Bhupender Yadav.

Wayanad MP Rahul Gandhi was in his constituency the other day and called on the families of the victims killed by the wild animals.

There has been an uproar against the Kerala government for their “callous approach” and the Congress-led UDF people’s representatives walked out of the meeting called by a three member group of state ministers the other day.

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The above article has been published from a wire agency with minimal modifications to the headline and text.