Jharkhand to bear education expenses of children if family head killed

The Jharkhand government will provide free education to the children of a family, which has lost its only earning member to an elephant attack, an official statement said here on Thursday. All district deputy commissioners have been apprised of the government’s decision, it said. “If a family head dies following attack by elephants, children of that family will get free education in government schools,” said the statement issued by the office of Chief Minister Raghubar Das.

The direction came following a meeting of the Jharkhand State Wildlife Council, chaired by the chief minister, on Wednesday.

Among others who attended the meeting were Additional Chief Secretary (forest department) Indushekhar Chaturvedi, Principle Secretary to the Chief Minister Sunil Kumar Barnwal and the forest department chief Sanjay Kumar.

Special efforts are being made to reduce man-animal conflict in Jharkhand, with focus on plantation of bamboo trees in the forests - one of the major sources of food for elephants, the statement said.

An “underpass will be constructed between Ranchi and Jamshedpur for the safe passage of elephants” along the forested areas, it said.

According to government records, 87 people were killed in elephant attacks in the state in the 2018-19 fiscal. Between January and June this year, at least six persons died in elephant attacks in the Ranchi forest division.