“A team of Nepali Parliamentarians and doctors will visit India to study controlling monkey populations after concerns were raised about the “monkey terror” in the Himalayan country,” a media report said on January 31.
The visit of the Members of Parliament of the Agriculture, Cooperative and Natural Resources Committee comes after Parliamentary meetings raised the issue of “monkey terror” and emphasised the need for control measures, MyRepublica news portal reported. “The visit has been supported by the Indian government,” it said.
Accompanied by ten veterinarians and five forest rangers, the Committee will travel to Himachal Pradesh to study the control of monkey populations through castration.
In 2016, Himachal Pradesh, for the first time, declared monkeys as "vermin" for one year, allowing their culling to control their population during this time. After this, the government extended the permission at least four times before rejecting the request in 2021.
“Meanwhile, members of another Nepali House of Representatives Committee reached India on January 30 with the dual objective of fostering Parliamentary diplomacy and promoting tourism,” the report said.
Members of the International Relations Committee, consisting of 11 members, eight of whom are MPs, will return to Nepal on February 7.
