Shimla, Sep.14 (ANI): Residents of Shimla have protested against the failure of the administration to curb the monkey menace bedevilling the resort city.
A large number of people assembled outside the office of the local municipal administration and demanded that the officials take adequate steps to prevent the threat posed by the monkeys.
Tikender Singh Panwar, a protestor, said that the government and the wild life officials should take stringent measures and address the problem of the locals at the earliest.
"It is ascertained that their (monkeys) population has gone up over Rs.six lakhs and according to the forest officials, only two lakhs of monkeys are sustainable. So others are either needed to be shifted to a private park or to be trans-located. But translocation will further raise the problem, as they will shift them to a village, which will create more problems. Since, city has developed a lot, so, a habitat for monkeys cannot be created here. So, it is very important to restrict their population through the methods of scientific culling and capturing them but for the past one year no capturing has been done," he said.
Panwar said that the monkeys have now started attacking the people and it was becoming extremely difficult for the locals to move freely on the streets.
He said that children and women are the most affected, as they appear to be the soft targets.
"Earlier they used to damage pipes or drains but off late we can see that their ferociousness has considerably increased as they have now started attacking people. Children and women are the most affected ones. If you see the records, 12 cases have been registered alone in the past week," he said.
Threatening of massive protest, Meera Ranaut, another protestor, said that if the administration will not take appropriate action, then the people would try to resolve the issue on their own as they will not be left with any other option.
"The time has come when government and MC (Municipal Cooperation) should sit together to and ensure that people are able to get rid of this problem. Otherwise we will hold a massive demonstration across the city in the coming days. People will themselves look for a solution whether they have to kill them or anything else, as we cannot leave our children for monkey and dogs," she said.
Shimla is famous for its scenic beauty, which attracts large number of tourists every year but the tremendous increase in the monkey population has become a major problem for the tourists as well.
In the state, tourism is one of the key sectors, which strengthens the socio-economic condition of the poor. (ANI)
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