Patna: Bihar’s attempt to protect crops by permitting the killing of “Ghodpras” has run into an unexpected obstacle: a severe shortage of registered shooters.
According to officials, only 13 registered shooters are currently authorised to carry out culling operations across the state, despite reports of thousands of the animals damaging farmland. The issue was recently raised in the state assembly by BJP MLA Rajneesh Kumar.
On Tuesday, the assembly speaker, Dr Prem Kumar, convened a review meeting in his chamber to assess the situation. The meeting was attended by Anand Kishore, additional chief secretary of the forest and climate change department; Prabhat Kumar Gupta, principal chief conservator of forests; Narmadeshwar Lal, principal secretary of the agriculture department; and Manoj Kumar, secretary of the panchayati raj department.
During the meeting, the speaker said the number of registered shooters should be increased to 400 to effectively implement the government’s decision. He directed officials to publicise details including the total number of shooters, the application process for hunting permits, payments to hunters, and the procedure for disbursing those payments.
Dr Kumar also emphasised the need to inform farmers about the process for claiming compensation for crop damage caused by Ghodpras. Several farmers have reportedly complained that they have not received compensation.
He said the agriculture department should play a coordinating role in handling issues related to Ghodpras, including compensation and field-level implementation.
The meeting also discussed compensation in cases of snakebite deaths. The speaker issued clear instructions regarding compensation following the death of BJP leader Jivesh Kumar due to a snakebite.
Officials informed the meeting that the disaster management department currently provides Rs 4 lakh as compensation for death or injury caused by snakebites, while Rs 10 lakh is paid in cases of death or injury caused by wildlife.
The speaker directed departmental officials to complete the necessary procedures to classify snakes as wildlife for compensation purposes, so that families of snakebite victims can receive Rs 10 lakh, in line with compensation norms for wildlife-related deaths.
MLAs Jivesh Mishra, Rajneesh Kumar and Mithilesh Tiwari were present at the meeting, along with the assembly’s in-charge secretary Khyati Singh and other officials.
