The family of an Uttar Pradesh native killed in an attack by wild animals would now be given a compensation of Rs five lakh within 24 hours of the incident, an official said Wednesday.
This is possible due to the man-animal conflict made a "state-declared disaster" by a notification issued today, said UP Relief Commissioner Sanjay Kumar.
Referring to the decision of categorising the conflict as a "state-declared disaster", Kumar said "It's a historical decision as UP is the first state in the country to do so."
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had earlier decided to make the man-animal conflict a "state-declared disaster".
The Wednesday order has also added lions and wild boars in the list of wild animals, which included only tiger, leopard, Indian wolf, hyena, crocodile, elephant and rhinoceros till now, said Kumar.
Explaining the implications of the new notification, he said, "Now it shall be possible to disburse the relief amount (to the victim's family) by RTGS within 24 hours of the incident, subject to mandatory post mortem and completion of paperwork by district magistrate.
As per the new order, in case of a death involving man-animal conflict, the relief of Rs 5 lakh will now be given to the family of deceased, while the payment for injuries in such cases would be made as per state Disaster Relief Fund (SDRF) guidelines, he said.
Out of the total compensation of Rs 5 lakhs in death cases, the Forest Department will have to pay a sum of Rs one lakh from its budget to the Revenue Department.
Earlier it took one to six months or more in disbursing the relief amount by the Forest Department for paucity of fund and long procedure.
The decision will help mitigate the acrimony among villagers, forest department and local administration in the conflict zones, especially the districts in 'terai' region.
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