A group of residents under the aegis of the Kurangu Salya Nivarana Samiti laid siege to the municipal office here on Saturday in protest against the “laxity of the authorities in tackling stray monkeys.”
Demonstrators arrived at the municipal office in a procession, shouting slogans, and gathered in front of the main entrance. Addressing the demonstrators, K. Gopalakrishnan, convener of the Samiti, said the municipal council had been indifferent to the problems of the people for many years. Though monkey fever outbreak had been reported from many parts of the district and four persons had died of the disease, the municipal authorities had not taken any steps to deal with it, he said.
The authorities had drafted a Rs.36.5-lakh project to sterilise stray monkeys last year, but it was yet to take off, he said. As per Forest Department statistics, there were 4,000 individual animals in the municipal area. The Sulthan Bathery sub-court had directed the authorities in 2013 to relocate the simian population from the municipal area in three months, they added.
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The authorities failed to do it effectively. Only a fraction of the population was shifted, Mr. Gopalakrishnan said.