LNP – EP farmers request fire arms to protect crops from elephants

The farmers in Gomarankadawala in the Trincomalee district requested today that Eastern Province (EP) Governor Anurada Yahampath should provide firearms to protect their crops from elephants.

Although the government has made various efforts to reduce the human-elephant conflict in the Gomarankadawala area, a severe crisis situation has arisen.

The governor pointed out that there was no permission from the Defense Ministry for the decision to provide firearms to farmers.

At the time, the people in the area opposed the governor. She called the Director General of the Civil Defense Department and asked if there was a solution for this.

The Director General said that only the civil defense officers deployed to monitor the elephant fence have the ability to issue firearms.

The director general had promised the governor to solve the problem in the future.

Attention was also paid to the creation of a committee made up of the Civil Defense Force and the farmers to update the elephant fence continuously.