porvorim forest minister vishwajit rane told the house on thursday that the government has undertaken various measures to deter the movement of wild animals outside forests he said that mixed fruitbearing plantations have been raised inside wildlife areas waterholes created and grass plotspastures maintained towards that end rane made this statement in a written reply to a question by curtorim mla aleixo reginaldo lourenco pertaining the steps taken by the government to deter wild animals like monkeys peacocks and porcupines who are devouring fruits and vegetables in fields farms and home gardens rane said that awareness programmes were being conducted to persuade farmers against growing crops preferred by wildlife in fringe areashe also said that 24x7 rescue squads have been deployed at range level and that a tollfree number 1926 has been made operational when lourenco sought to know the steps taken by the government to deter the movement of monkeys who play havoc with roof tiles rane said that since monkeys are arboreal in nature and their movements cannot be restricted by physical means the forest department has undertaken the task of awareness generation among fringe communities to not feed monkeys or to keep any of their preferred eatables outside the premises the forest department is also engaged in suitably modifying cropping patterns in consultation with the agriculture department to curb the monkey menace rane said roundtheclock rescue squads are functional to rescue problematic and stressed wild animals to avoid any untoward incidents his reply readto lourencos query over the the steps taken by the government to rectify the menace caused by uprooting wildlife from their natural habitat due to construction activities ranes reply read nonforestry activity is not allowed inside forests without prior approval under the provision of forest conservation act 1980 and wildlife protection act 1972 in case any forest area is diverted for nonforestry purposes mitigation measures as mandated by the government of india including compensatory afforestation wildlife conservation plans etc are taken upfor any damages caused by wildlife either to life or property those aggrieved need to approach the forest department for compensation while in cases pertaining to damages caused by wildlife to crops the agriculture should be approached rane said