Coming out with an alternative to ease the man-animal conflicts, Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar on Thursday said that the forest department will plant fruit-bearing trees on a large scale in the forest areas to ensure animals do not enter human habitations. He was replying to a demand raised by MLA Rajesh Patnekar requesting the Chief Minister to urge the Centre to declare wild boar, bison and monkey as vermins for damaging crops.
The Chief Minister, who also holds the Forest portfolio, blamed human encroachments on forest land for the man-animal conflicts. “These wild animals damaging crops is a problem because we have encroached onto their land and they (wild animals) have encroached upon ours. However, planting fruit-bearing trees in forest areas will help avoid such conflicts for which financial provision has been made,” he said.