Hassan, Nov 24 (IANS): The Karnataka government has taken the elephant menace seriously and has constituted the Elephant Task Forces to deal with the issue, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai said on Wednesday.

Talking to reporters at Halebeedu Helipad here, he said the elephants, which had come here following drought for many years, have not returned.

Other reasons for the jumbo attack are human beings entering forests for some reason or the other and climate change. It will be very difficult to disperse the herd of elephants, he said.

Since it is not correct to launch an operation after any single incident, the task force has been constituted to launch the operation regularly, he said, adding that each task force is provided with training, vehicles, equipment and a control room has also been established.

The job of the special force members is to patrol the elephant-infested areas regularly and push back the animals back into forests. In case the wild elephants are more in number, then members of all the forces must join together and send back the jumbos into forests, Bommai said.

The task force has been given directions to launch this operation for at least ten days. A sum of Rs 100 crore has been earmarked in this year's budget for this purpose. A new kind of fence is being put up in Bandipur National park. The Elephant Corridor will be fully protected, he said.

Bommai said a solatium of Rs 15 lakh is given to those killed in wild elephant attack and giving a job to a member of the deceased family will be seriously considered.

--IANS

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