The Hindu 22.01.2015
SDMC has just 2 staff to catch, shift monkeys
Its two humans against hundreds of monkeys in South
Delhi, with the local civic body relying on a couple of monkey-catchers
to round up and relocate the simian population.
The
South Delhi Municipal Corporation has just two people employed as
monkey-catchers and zero vehicles dedicated for the job, a senior
Veterinary Department official said. A total of 371 monkeys were caught
by the civic body between April and November 2014, the official added.
The monkeys were relocated to the forests of the Asola Bhatti mines.
Office-bearers
in the BJP-led Corporation had said the streets of South Delhi would be
cleared of stray animals before the visit of U.S. President Barack
Obama. He will be travelling through SDMC area on his way from the
airport to a hotel in Central Delhi.
Leader of the
House Radhey Shyam Sharma had ordered officials to make sure that stray
animals were off the streets before Mr. Obama’s visit for Republic Day.
However, officials are saying that the civic body’s cattle vans are not
adequate to catch all the stray cows, dogs and monkeys.
SDMC
Leader of the Opposition Farhad Suri said: “Just because the U.S.
President is visiting, the civic body went into overdrive and announced
that it will move all the strays. But, there are only two
monkey-catchers.”
The other municipal corporations do
not fare better in the monkey-catching business. The North Delhi
Municipal Corporation has three monkey-catchers and it caught 254
monkeys from April to October last year.