Violent protests rock Pulpally in Wayanad after third elephant attack death in a month

Halting his Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra in Varanasi abruptly, Congress MP Rahul Gandhi arrived at his constituency in Kerala's Wayanad to visit the families of victims who lost their lives in wild elephants attacks recently. After meeting the families, the Wayanad MP spoke to the media and informed that he cut short his Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra to come to the district and speak to the grieving families and to tell the administration to release the compensation without delay.

He said, "We've been facing now these tragedies that are coming out of man-animal conflict for some time. And in the last few days, there have been a larger number of them...We've told the administration that they need to pay the compensation quickly and effectively and not delay the compensation that has been happening over the last couple of months. We also suggested to look into setting up and testing an early warning system."

"There's a question of interstate cooperation between Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. We mentioned to them that we will also play a role in trying to improve the coordination. But it's important that the three states coordinate with each other as far as this issue is concerned. Finally, the medical college, which is a critical issue. I don't understand why it is taking so long to develop and build a medical college here... I've written to the chief minister and I would request him again to please expedite this matter. It is almost becoming a joke now," he added.