In 6 years, Maha lost 501 lives to man-animal conflict

Chandrapur: Man-wildlife conflict across the state has claimed 501 human lives, injured nearly 4,000 people, killed more than 30,000 livestock and devastated over five lakh crop holdings. The data shared by forest department under the Right to Information Act also throws light on the compensation system which is struggling to keep pace with the escalating conflict.The figures obtained by Nagpur-based activist Abhay Kolarkar doesn't focus on isolated incidents, but brings to light a widening crisis stretching across tiger corridors and forest-fringe villages.As per the RTI reply human fatalities rose sharply from 82 in 2020-21 to a peak of 111 in 2022-23. The figures dipped before picking up again in the current year, with 91 deaths recorded in 2025-26.From 401 injured in 2020-21, the figure surged more than threefold to 1,312 in 2023-24, suggesting either a rise in encounters or greater reporting, or both. The year 2023-24 also recorded the single worst livestock toll: over 7,152 cattle killed and 17,740 injured.Crop damage figures compound the rural distress. From roughly 35,100 crop-damage incidents in 2020-21, the number exploded to over 2.11 lakh in 2023-24 — nearly a sixfold rise in three years — before partially easing to 1.63 lakh in 2024-25 and 61,458 cases in 2025-26. The Maharashtra govt compensates victims through a structured policy notified via Gazette in February 2024. Compensation for human fatalities is Rs25 lakh; permanent disability Rs7.5 lakh; serious injuries Rs5 lakh. Cattle deaths are compensated at 75% of market value, capped at Rs70,000 per large animal. Yet the aggregate payout — totalling Rs763.10 crore over six years — has consistently lagged the scale of documented losses.Despite rising incidents, compensation disbursed annually under Mahakosh moved from Rs80.22 crore in 2020-21 to Rs184.78 crore in 2024-25, a doubling over five years, but critics argue processing delays and documentation burdens leave many victims, particularly tribal farmers, without timely relief.Kolarkar says the data underscores the urgency of a dedicated man-animal conflict mitigation policy. "These are not statistics. Each number is a family that lost its breadwinner or a farmer who lost an entire harvest," he told TOI.Infographics - Numbers behind Crisis (6 Yrs )# Human deaths - 501# Human injuries - 3934# Cattle deaths- 30,739# Cattle injuries- 74,531# Crop damage - 5,51,479# Collective Compensation paid- ₹ 763.1 cr