**Executive Summary**
This document is the answer to Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No. 356 regarding increased tiger attacks in the Shirdi Lok Sabha Constituency of Maharashtra. It outlines the government's response, including the roles of state governments and the central government's strategies for mitigating human-wildlife conflicts. The information includes data on human deaths due to tiger attacks from 2020 to June 2025.
**Key Points / Main Content**
* **State Governments' Responsibility:** State Governments have the primary responsibility to manage human-wildlife conflict situations, as per the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972.
* **Central Government Support:** The Central Government provides financial assistance to States through the Project Tiger Component of the Centrally Sponsored Scheme of Integrated Development of Wildlife Habitats (CSS-IDWH).
* This support is for conservation of tigers, raising awareness, and mitigating human-wildlife conflicts.
* **Three-Pronged Strategy (National Tiger Conservation Authority):**
* **Material and Logistical Support:** Funding for infrastructure and material to deal with dispersing tigers.
* Tiger reserves solicit support through Annual Plans of Operation (APO).
* Activities include compensation, awareness campaigns, information dissemination, equipment procurement, and staff training.
* **Restricting Habitat Interventions:** Habitat interventions are restricted based on the carrying capacity of tigers in tiger reserves to minimize spillover of wildlife.
* In buffer areas around tiger reserves, habitat interventions are sub-optimal to encourage dispersal to other areas.
* **Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs):** The National Tiger Conservation Authority has issued three SOPs to deal with human-animal conflict:
* Dealing with emergencies from tigers straying into human-dominated landscapes.
* Dealing with tiger depredation on livestock.
* Active management towards rehabilitation of tigers from source areas.
* The SOPs include managing dispersing tigers, livestock kills, and relocating tigers from source areas to areas with lower tiger density.
* **Data on Human Deaths:** Details of human deaths due to tiger attacks from 2020 to June 2025 are provided by the States and are included in Annexure-I.
**Impact Analysis**
**Stakeholder: Local People in Shirdi Lok Sabha Constituency, Maharashtra**
* **Impact:** Increased tiger attacks are creating fear and anxiety, and farmers are unable to carry out farming activities.
* **Action Required:** Be aware of government efforts to address tiger attacks, adhere to the advice from the local forest department, and promptly report any incidents of human-wildlife conflict to the authorities.
**Stakeholder: State Governments**
* **Impact:** Required to manage human-wildlife conflicts, specifically regarding tiger attacks.
* **Action Required:** Implement provisions under the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972, manage human-wildlife conflict situations, utilize SOPs issued by the Ministry, and seek financial assistance from the Central Government through the Project Tiger Component of CSS-IDWH.
**Stakeholder: Central Government (Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change)**
* **Impact:** Responsible for providing financial assistance and issuing guidelines for managing human-wildlife conflicts.
* **Action Required:** Continue providing financial assistance to states, monitoring the implementation of SOPs, and ensuring effective conservation and mitigation strategies are in place.
**Stakeholder: National Tiger Conservation Authority**
* **Impact:** Responsible for issuing SOPs and implementing strategies to deal with conflicts.
* **Action Required:** Maintain and update SOPs, promote awareness, and facilitate material support, capacity building, and strategic interventions to prevent and manage human-animal conflicts.
Key Entities Referenced
Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972: Empowers State Chief Wildlife Wardens to manage human wildlife conflict situations, referenced in the context of managing tiger attacks.
National Tiger Conservation Authority: Responsible for issuing Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) to deal with human-animal conflict.
Centrally Sponsored Scheme of Integrated Development of Wildlife Habitats (CSS-IDWH): Provides financial assistance to States for tiger conservation and mitigation of human-wildlife conflicts.
Project Tiger: Component of the Centrally Sponsored Scheme, provides funding support for tiger reserves to acquire infrastructure and material.
Maharashtra: State where tiger attacks are occurring in the Shirdi Lok Sabha Constituency.
OIH
GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE
LOK SABHA
UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 356
TO BE ANSWERED ON 02.02.2026
Tiger Attacks in Shirdi Lok Sabha Constituency
356. SHRI BHAUSAHEB RAJARAM WAKCHAURE:
Will the Minister of ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE be pleased to state:
(a) whether continuously increased incidents of tiger attacks in the Shirdi Lok Sabha
Constituency of Maharashtra are creating an atmosphere of fear and anxiety among the local
people;
(b) if so, the details of people died due to tiger attack;
(c) whether the farmers in the said area especially in Sangamner, Rahata, Shrirampur and Akola
talukas are unable to carry out their farming activities even during the day time due to threat of
tiger attack;
(d) whether the Government has taken or proposes to take any steps to address the problem of
tiger attacks in the said Constituency and to provide relief to the local people from tiger
attacks by capturing the tigers and relocating them to the Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve in
Chandrapur district of the State or to any other Central Tiger Reserve in the larger public
interest; and
(e) if so, the details thereof?
ANSWER
MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND
CLIMATE CHANGE
(SHRI KIRTI VARDHAN SINGH)
(a) , (b) & (c) The State Governments have the primary responsibility to manage human-wildlife
conflicts situation under the relevant provisions made under Section 11 & 12 of the Wild Life
(Protection) Act, 1972, which empower the State Chief Wildlife Wardens to manage human wildlife
conflict situations. To address the wildlife conflict situation, the Ministry has issued Standard
Operating Procedure’s (SOP’s) for handling and managing the human-wildlife conflicts. The Central
Government provides financial assistance to States under the Project Tiger Component of the
ongoing Centrally Sponsored Scheme of Integrated Development of Wildlife Habitats (CSS-IDWH)
for conservation of tigers, raising awareness on tiger & other wildlife conservation including
mitigation of human-wildlife conflicts.
Further, as reported by the States, the details of human deaths due to tiger attacks since 2020 to June
2025, including the State of Maharashtra, is at Annexure-I.
(d) & (e) Apropos, the Government of India, through the National Tiger Conservation
Authority, has issued the following three-pronged strategy to deal with conflict which is as below:
(i) Material and logistical support: Funding support through the ongoing Centrally Sponsored
Scheme of Project Tiger, is provided to tiger reserves for acquiring capacity in terms of
infrastructure and material, to deal with tigers dispersing out of source areas. These are
solicited by tiger reserves through an Annual Plan of Operation (APO) every year which
stems out from an overarching Tiger Conservation Plan (TCP), mandated under Section 38 Vof the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972. Inter alia, activities such as payment of ex-gratia and
compensation, periodic awareness campaigns to sensitize, guide and advise the general
populace on man-animal conflict, dissemination of information through various forms of
media, procurement of immobilization equipment, drugs, training and capacity building of
forest staff to deal with conflict events are generally solicited.
(ii) Restricting habitat interventions: Based on the carrying capacity of tigers in a tiger reserve,
habitat interventions are restricted through an overarching TCP. In case tiger numbers are at
carrying capacity levels, it is advised that habitat interventions should be limited so that there
is no excessive spill over of wildlife including tigers thereby minimizing man-animal
conflict. Further, in buffer areas around tiger reserves, habitat interventions are restricted
such that they are sub-optimal vis-à-vis the core/critical tiger habitat areas, judicious enough
to facilitate dispersal to other rich habitat areas only.
(iii) Standard Operating Procedure (SOPs): The National Tiger Conservation Authority has
issued following three SOPs to deal with human-animal conflict, which are available in public
domain:
i. To deal with emergency arising due to straying of tigers in human dominated landscapes
ii. To deal with tiger depredation on livestock
iii. For active management towards rehabilitatsion of tigers from source areas at the landscape
level.
The three SOPs inter alia include the issue of managing dispersing tigers, managing livestock
kills so as to reduce conflict as well as relocating tigers from source areas to areas where
density of tiger is low, so that conflict in rich source areas does not occur.
*****Annexure-I
ANNEXURE REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (a), (b) & (c) OF THE OF THE LOK
SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 356 ON TIGER ATTACKS IN SHIRDI LOK
SABHA CONSTITUENCY DUE FOR REPLY ON 02.02.2026
As reported by the States, the details of human deaths due to tiger attacks since 2020 to June
2025 (as on 30.06.2025)
S. State 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025
No. (as on
30.06.2025)
1 Andhra Pradesh 0 0 0 0 0 0
2 Arunachal
Pradesh 0 0 0 0 0 0
3 Assam 0 0 0 0 4 0
4 Bihar 1 4 9 1 2 0
5 Chhattisgarh 0 0 0 3 0 0
6 Jharkhand 0 0 0 0 0 0
7 Karnataka 0 1 1 8 2 0
8 Kerala 2 1 1 1 1 0
9 Madhya Pradesh 11 2 3 10 6 9
10 Maharashtra 39 54 80 37 41 27
11 Mizoram 0 0 0 0 0 0
12 Orissa 0 0 0 0 0 0
13 Rajasthan 0 1 0 2 1 0
14 Tamil Nadu 1 3 0 1 0 0
15 Telangana 2 0 0 0 1 0
16 Uttar Pradesh 4 11 11 25 10 2
17 Uttarakhand 0 1 3 0 5 2
18 West Bengal 5 5 1 0 1 0
TOTAL 65 83 109 88 74 40
*****