Civic body & Forest department to check monkey menace in Doon’s residential areas

PIONEER EDGE NEWS SERVICE/Dehradun

The Municipal Corporation of Dehradun (MCD) and the Forest department will work in coordination to check the rising human-monkey conflict in the residential areas of Dehradun city. Dehradun municipal commissioner Namami Bansal said that complaints are coming in from different parts of the city and in some areas the problem has become serious.

To address the issue, Dehradun’s civic body has held a coordination meeting with the Forest department and linked its teams with the forest rangers concerned to ensure smooth ground-level coordination. A roster has also been prepared for severely affected areas so that joint action can be taken with departmental and zonal officers, the corporation said.

According to municipal officials, the monkeys will be trapped and sent to the Forest department’s monkey sterilisation centre at Chidiyapur in Haridwar, after which the simians will be released in the jungle by the Forest department.

Officials added that a board meeting is proposed in the upcoming financial year, during which policy-level decisions and budgetary provisions will be made to deal with the monkey menace. Until then, interim arrangements are being made through the Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Department.

Action in badly affected areas will be taken as per prescribed norms and estimated expenditure, officials said, adding that the aim is to reduce human-animal conflict while ensuring compliance with wildlife protection guidelines.The issue has become a growing concern for residents, especially in Clement Town, Lakkhibagh, Subhashnagar, Mothrowala, Asharodi, Chukkhuwala and some other areas where monkeys have been damaging property, disrupting daily life and posing safety risks.