Killing of wild boar allowed in state

Tribune News Service

Dehradun, February 10

The Union Environment Ministry decision to declare wild boar as vermin for a year has strengthened the Uttarakhand Forest Department’s resolve to tackle wild boars responsible for destroying agricultural fields. Uttarakhand has become the second state after Bihar to get such permission.

The state Forest Department some time ago had announced to bear the cost of bullets to be used by farmers to kill wild boars, which cause huge damage to crops every year.

The Union ministry’s notification declares wild board to be vermin in several tehsil areas of the 13 districts of Uttarakhand. The wild boar can be shot down in Rishikesh, Vikasnagar, Chakrata and Dehradun district.

Similarly, it can be shot down in Roorkie, Haridwar, Luxor and Bhagwanpur tehsil areas of Haridwar. Ramnagar, Nainital, Kaladungi and Haldwani in Nainital district, Kashipur and Jaspur in Udham Singh Nagar district, Someshwar, Sult, Ranikhet and Bhikyasain in Almora district, Bageshwar, Kapkot, Kanda and Garud in Bageshwar district, Srinagar, Pauri, Chaubattakhal, Thalisain, Lansdowne, Yamkeshwar and Kotwar tehsils in Pauri district and Joshimath, Dasholi and Ukhimath tehsils in Rudraprayag district have been included in the notification. All tehsils of Champawat, Pithoragarh, Uttarkashi and Tehri districts have been included.

Wild boars play a major role in destruction of crops in the state. Many farmers have abandoned agriculture due to wild boar menace in the hill areas of the state. Uttarakhand forest authorities have been demanding declaring wild boar as vermin in the state for quite some time.

Forest Minister Dinesh Agarwal had a month back set three month deadline for the forest officials to act for resolving the wild boar menace in the state. The minister had expressed concern over the wild boar menace completely ruining the agriculture in the state.

While the state government has heaved a sigh of relief, the Central government notification is expected to result large scale resentment among wildlife conservation in the coming days.