The Hon. Nalin Bandara Jayamaha
Hon. Nalin Bandara Jayamaha highlighted the scale and cost of human-elephant conflict, citing 3,519 elephant deaths and 1,198 human deaths over ten years, with substantial public expenditure on related compensation and departmental costs. He noted that deaths declined in 2024 compared to 2023 and attributed this partly to improved management by the Department, including civil defence support and better fence management. He urged the Minister to address staffing shortages urgently, strengthen cadre and performance monitoring, and asked whether measures would be taken to increase staffing and ensure their effectiveness.
Verbatim record (translated)
Machine-translated from Sinhala / Tamil / English¶ 01 Mr. Speaker, I thank the Hon. Minister for a very detailed statistical answer.
¶ 02 Frankly, I too was shocked. Adding the numbers, in 10 years 3,519 elephants have died and 1,198 people have died. We cannot price a life, but an elephant death typically costs the Department around Rs. 1 million each, implying Rs. 3,519 million over ten years on elephant deaths alone, and ex gratia for human deaths at Rs. 1 million each totals Rs. 1,198 million. This is serious.
¶ 03 Compared to 2023, in 2024 elephant deaths fell by 100 and human deaths by 29. I examined the reasons: the Department has managed it better, beyond just erecting fences or various ad-hoc proposals.
¶ 04 Yet, staffing shortages are a key constraint. Please urgently strengthen cadre and ensure performance oversight. With proper fence management by officers, we can reduce incidents further—as seen in 2024 with civil defence support. On average, about 350 elephants die per year over the decade. Will you urgently increase staffing and monitor their effectiveness?
Provenance
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- Hansard, Thursday, 27 February 2025 ·No. 1741437399068186 ·English daily/uncorrected Hansard
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Cite as: The Hon. Nalin Bandara Jayamaha. 10th Parliament, Parliament of Sri Lanka. Hansard, 27 February 2025. No. 1741437399068186. Politick, https://staging.politick.io/lk/speeches/13204