Puttur: It has been three years since the state government had passed an order to compensate farmers who were affected by monkey menace. Due to attacks by troops of ferocious monkeys, farmers have lost crops-mainly vegetables, coconuts and banana. Efforts to tackle the menace has failed in various parts of Puttur.
Though the state government had passed an order to compensate the farmers, the forest department is yet to take any action. The officials have not been able to compensate the farmers as no certain amount has been fixed yet for the loss of crops.
Farmers who suffer extensive damage due to monkey menace had urged the government to compensate them and in response the state government too directed district forest conservator to act immediately. Farmers too were relieved that they would get compensation for the loss. But the forest department is in a fix since the government has not fixed particular amount for the crop loss. The compensation differs according to different crops.
The department brought the issue to the notice of the officials concerned in 2014 and urged to fix an amount of compensation. But the government has not yet taken any action on the same. There are over 30 to 40 lakh coconut trees with a yield of 18 crore coconuts annually. The district has suffered over Rs 200 crore loss due to monkey menace. Hence, the government needs to act swiftly instead of fooling farmers.
