Monkeys Pose Serious Problems In Karimnagar
There are incidents of people’s deaths as they hurried to escape from monkeys: Reports
KARIMNAGAR: Monkey menace has become a serious problem in the erstwhile Karimnagar district, with frequent attacks on their houses and creating a flutter.
Some people have also been attacked. There are incidents of people’s deaths as they hurried to escape from monkeys. A woman from Lingapur of Shankarapatnam mandal, Kesireddy Vimala, 50, died while attempting to run away from monkeys on December 31, last year.
She was standing in front of her home and a group of monkeys ran in. The woman tried to scare them away, but she fell down from the steps and received a serious head injury. She died while undergoing treatment in Huzurabad government area hospital.
Several people have been injured in monkeys’ attacks. Some people have arranged to put up Langur photos in front of their houses, while financially well-off families are arranging solar fencing around their houses.
Monkey menace is one reason for the increase in paddy cultivation and decline in vegetable sowing. Agricultural crops have also been damaged.
Afraid of monkeys, a majority of the farmers have stopped cultivation of maize, vegetables, groundnut and pulses such as green gram, red gram, bengal gram etc.
Speaking to Deccan Chronicle, a farmer from Gopalpur, Manda Rajamallaiah said several farmers have stopped the cultivation of vegetables and maize due to monkey menace. Earlier, he used to sow vegetables in four to five acres. Now, it has been restricted to two acres.
Monkey attacks are raised as a major issue in the gram panchayat and municipal elections. Sarpanch aspirants promised the villagers to find a permanent solution to the problem if he/she was elected.
Going a step further, a few candidates caught monkeys by engaging monkey catchers even before the election. Curiously, though the elected people got monkeys caught to fulfill their poll promise, the population of monkeys has increased.
Molangur sarpanch Pudari Raju said that since the village was surrendered by hillocks, the problem was high. He caught monkeys by paying `300 each per caught monkey to the catchers. However, the population of monkeys kept increasing, he said and urged the government to find a permanent solution to the problem.