New Delhi: Monkey menace in the capital city is getting out of control as surgical sterilisation is not working. The Delhi government told the High Court that professional monkey catchers are also not coming forward to help.
The city government was making submissions on a plea seeking records from the state on the funds sanctioned by the Centre to curb the problem. The counsel Santosh Kumar Tripathi said the state received funds from the Centre and a tender was floated for hiring monkey catchers but nobody came forward. He also argued that surgical sterilisation has not been successful in many parts of the country. The city counsel also observed that oral contraceptive pills have side effects on monkeys.
The high court listed the matter for further hearing on March 22.
The plea said the region has seen a consequential increase in monkey bite cases. The animals have also been roaming around freely and snatching food from visitors.
In 2007, the High Court issued a set of directions to civic agencies for dealing with the monkey population. It said that 25% of the monkey population can be sterilised by government agencies.