New Delhi
Cases of bites, damage spiral as wild simians flee parched Asola Sanctuary in droves & attack nearby posh localities in south Delhi.
When Shubam Goyal, a businessman in South Delhi's Vasant Kunj, kept his bedroom doors ajar for some comfort from the scorching heat early this month, he had no idea about the trauma he and his family would soon face.
A monkey with her baby hanging from her belly barged in. A few minutes were enough for the wild simian to ransack the entire second-floor apartment. "We are lucky that my three-year-old daughter and 65-year-old mother-inlaw somehow escaped unhurt," said his wife Sushma Goyal.
This summer, thousands of residents in posh South Delhi neighbourhoods such as Vasant Kunj, Saket, Chhatarpur and Sainik Farms are facing deadly monkey attacks.
As the mercury rises, water bodies in Asola Bhatti wildlife sanctuary, where about 20,000 monkeys have been kept after being captured by municipalities from different areas of the city, have gone dry.
This has forced the wild simians to flee their designated abode in South Delhi and raid nearby localities, often barging into bedrooms and kitchens, causing damage, stealing food and wounding occupants.
"You cannot control animals. They need congenial environment like adequate water and food. Why would they stay here when the water in the ponds has dried up," said Challu, a security guard at the sanctuary.
Somnath Bharti, AAP MLA from South Delhi's Malviya Nagar, who heads a five-member Delhi Assembly panel formed last year to find solutions to the menace, said the situation was alarming. "On an average, about 20 cases of monkey bites are being reported every day," he said.
And these cases have left people in panic. "Because of the monkey menace, our children are afraid of even venturing out to play," said Radhika Khare, who lives in a farmhouse in Chhatarpur. South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) officials admitted that the situation was worrisome, especially in areas around the sanctuary, and indicated nothing much could be done.
"We captured 625 monkeys in 2018 and our efforts continue this year as well with the help of three monkey catchers that we have. But the situation can be addressed only after the Delhi government's wildlife department complements our efforts. We have written several letters to them but there is no proper response," said SDMC official Ravinder Sharma.
"We have given a proposal for monkeys' sterilisation to control their population and also count their numbers. However, the wildlife department hasn't responded. Municipal corporations are not supposed to capture monkeys, but we're having to do it," Sharma said.
Last year, the wildlife department prepared a draft plan to sterilise around 25,000 monkeys in Delhi over a period of three years at a cost of Rs 23 crore.
Unique identification numbers were to be tattooed on sterilised monkeys so that they could be identified.
A recent Union government notification said monkeys are not stray animals and their catching, trapping and population control can only be done by the wildlife department.
"The plan has been sent to the Union ministry of environment, forest and climate change," said a wildlife department official.
On some occasions, monkeys have run amok in prime locations like the Parliament Building. In December last year, just before the beginning of Winter Session, an advisory to MPs detailed ways to keep simian attacks at bay. "Don't tease or make direct eye contact with a monkey, and definitely don't get between a mother and her infant," the advisory said.
In 2007, the Delhi High Court directed that monkeys be shifted to the sanctuary spread over 100 acres, after a violent attack killed Delhi's Deputy Mayor SS Bajwa. The court also asked the wildlife department to provide monkeys with food so that they do not return. In the last 12 years, about 20,000 monkeys have been relocated to the sanctuary with the wildlife department spending Rs 10 crore on their feed, mostly fruits and gram. This is in addition to the money spent by municipal corporations to relocate them from different areas. A professional takes Rs 2,400 to catch one monkey.
Delhi reports around 1,800 cases of monkey bites every year. In 2018, there were 500 cases in SDMC areas. "The problem is, most monkey catchers are from other states and they are not ready to work in Delhi. We're still making efforts to hire them," said MLA Bharti.
RBS Tyagi, former director of SDMC's veterinary science department, has a solution to offer. "SDMC and wildlife department have to resolve this crisis jointly. Sterlisation is the only method to check their population. Otherwise, you will keep spending Rs 2,400 on the same monkey again and again," he said.
Tyagi said Agra municipal corporation has sterlised 500 monkeys. "During my time at SDMC, we sanctioned Rs 8 crore for this purpose but the project couldn't take off," he said.
But all sterlisation plans have faced stiff opposition from animal activists.
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