Bindu Shajan Perappadan
‘Action initiated on a war footing to check the menace’
Civic agencies are entitled to challan persons found feeding monkeys at public places
The Department of Forests and Wildlife has put in place food collection boxes
NEW DELHI: Doing its bit for checking the monkey menace in the Capital, the State Department of Forests and Wildlife in its first “action taken” report claims to have initiated action on a war footing against those creating public nuisance by feeding monkeys.
While there exist strict guidelines against feeding monkeys in public areas, more particularly around the Western Command Headquarters, Rashtrapati Bhavan, Connaught Place, Central Secretariat and around Qutab Minar and other habitat places where monkeys are present in large numbers, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) and the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) are entitled to challan persons found feeding monkeys for creating a public nuisance.
They can also impose fines in accordance with the provisions of the MCD Act and the NDMC Act or any other law empowering them to act.
In the report submitted to the State Department of Forests and Wildlife, the civic agencies claim to have launched a vigorous drive to stop people from feeding monkeys at public places and creating a nuisance.
“In our first action taken report it has been reported that the MCD has challaned 35 persons, while 349 persons have been fined by the NDMC. The work has been done despite the shortage of manpower and other constraints that the MCD and NDMC staff work under,” said a senior official at the Department of Forests and Wildlife.
“To facilitate ‘orderly’ distribution of food to the monkeys, the Department of Forests and Wildlife has put in place collection boxes where food for them can be collected,” he said, adding, “The collection boxes are placed at the food collection centres every Tuesday and Saturday at Hanuman Mandir, Connaught Place, Yamuna Bazar, Sardar Patel Marg and Panchsheel Marg crossing. The material collected here is transported the same day to the Asola Bhatti Mines area for the monkeys there. Also we are not allowing direct feeding of monkeys in the wildlife sanctuary and have given strict instructions not to allow children to play with them. ”
Wildlife activist Sonya Ghosh described the Asola wildlife sanctuary as “a good working model of rehabilitating the monkeys”. She added: “They have adjusted well and are being feed regularly twice a day with fresh food.”
